Akame ga Kill!: Distortion
by WritingAmateur0604
Summary: "In bloody rebellion, nobody wins." Angry and confused and without the Night Raid to help, Tatsumi is left to cope with the death of his friends by himself. Until he meets Seryu. Is there another way to stop the unjust bloodshed? Or will Tatsumi's vengeance take over and pose a new threat to everyone around him?
1. Seperated and Lost

**Note: This Story is based on the Anime canon of Akame ga Kill! and is thus second canon. There will be a few minor differences between the Anime's storyline and this story's timeline (i.e. the dialogue and the sequencing of events), but it is usually for the progression of this story. "Original" ideas such as non-canon characters will be added later on.**

* * *

 _ **"In bloody rebellion, nobody wins."  
**_ _ **-?**_

Finally, the day had come. Though he had been preparing for it for months now, it only seemed like yesterday when his mentor asked him and his friends if they were willing to venture out towards the Capital. Applying for the military was the plan that they all agreed upon since the three of them were talented in hunting Danger Beasts, but they all knew that earning money for their village wasn't going to be easy, especially since they were only teens who had never properly been outside of the province before. They also knew, however, that they were the only ones able to work in the Capital for their village's survival. It would be their perseverance which would allow the village to survive the new heavy tax increase of the Empire.

Tatsumi lazily sat up in bed and looked out of his open window. He was greeted by the mountain region's cold fresh air, its breeze gently caressing his face as he watched his breath liquefy into wisps of visible vapor. It was just before dawn, their appointed time of departure from what had been their home for many years.

Stepping outside of his little cottage, he walked towards a nearby river to give himself a thorough bath. From there, he could see a general overview of the small snow-laden town which he had grown up in, its people just beginning to wake up and give the village the liveliness that Tatsumi had always cherished. He knew that he was going to miss the village; even after his parents' death, he still felt like he was an integral part of a big family due to the kind hearts that the village people possessed. People always greeted him nicely and he was always invited to games and social gatherings. The little kids saw him as their "big brother" whilst the older townsfolk treated him as if he were one of their own children. Seeing his potential to become a skilled warrior, an ex-military veteran even offered to train him and his friends in combat so that their talents wouldn't go to waste. No matter where he was, he was never lonely, as his best friends were always by his side.

"Friends…" Tatsumi thought to himself as he re-entered his house. He had just finished with his bath and was beginning to change into his plain white collared undershirt and brown v-neck. No matter where he was, his two best friends Sayo and Ieyasu had always accompanied and supported him. His most memorable moments in the village were spent with them, in laughter and in strife. Whenever he would receive recognition for his accomplishments, his friends were always there to celebrate with him. Whenever his heart was filled with anguish, he always knew that he could confide in his friends (no, not just friends, but his brother and sister), and he knew that they would always be there for him in his time of need.

As he was putting on his worn-out jeans and strapping on his brown leather boots and gauntlets, his shiny green eyes surveyed the small house. It only had two rooms: a dining room and a bedroom where he and his parents used to sleep. Ever since birth, this house was his safe haven where he would rest after a long hard day of training.

It was now that he truly felt grateful towards the place where he had always lived: the day when he was about to leave with no assurance that he was ever going to return.

Whilst making his final preparations, Tatsumi heard a series of knocks on his door followed by the familiar voices of his two best friends. He grinned to himself before double-checking his things one last time. Aside from money, snacks, medicine and other essentials, he made sure that he had his broad glistening sword strapped around his back, its signature green dragon's eye embedded into the center of its sturdy shaft. Ever since he started taking serious training, this sword was what he mainly relied on to become stronger and to defend himself from all sorts of dangers. Weirdly enough, however, he had never thought of a proper name for the sword.

With his wool jacket on and his backpack ready, he went on out to greet his jovial friends. Though not thought to be possible, Ieyasu was more excited than he usually was, his hot blood somehow causing him to sweat despite the cold secluded mountains that their village was situated in. He was currently trying to express his excitement to Sayo as loudly as he could, to which Sayo would calmly answer to with simple nods and petite smiles.

Turning his head back towards the now empty house, Tatsumi grinned once more. "Don't worry mom and dad, the elders will take care of the house while I'm gone. I promise that I'll make you proud." And with one final glance, Tatsumi shut the door.

And with one final glance, Tatsumi shut the door.

* * *

"Yeah! Aren't you guys excited that we're finally gonna leave this place!?" Ieyasu always talked with enthusiasm, his black spiky hair flaring up under his white sweaty headband. "I mean of course I'm gonna miss home, but aren't you guys pumped!? I know that I am! Who knows what's waiting for us in the Capital!?"

"Who said that we weren't?" asked Sayo, who was wearing a gentle smile that could warm any boy's heart. Although she stayed cool and collected, her face was starting to light up in anticipation of the journey ahead. She was wearing the same outfit that she had worn every day of her adolescent life: a snow white kimono decorated with purple tulips. She also had her signature purple flower hairpin on which complemented her black, long, and luscious hair. Her whole outfit made her look humble and simple, which she proved to be through her everyday life.

"I am interested as to how life is outside of our village," Tatsumi added. "Sensei did say that you need to leave home in order to learn more about the world around you. We may even make new friends along the way!"

"There you go again Tatsumi," Ieyasu remarked. "Always dreaming about making new friends. Aren't we enough!?"

"Well...Uhhhhhh..."

"Nah, that's okay Tatsumi," Ieyasu smirked. "I too know how it feels to have to look at Sayo's face every day."

"Did you say something Ieyasu?" Sayo asked with a smile, although it had a colder underlying tone. "Because if you commented on how I look again, I swear that I will-"

"Okay, okay, that's enough Sayo," Ieyasu said jokingly, not wanting to become the victim of Sayo's rage. "Anyway, I'm sure that the Capital has a lot of hot girls, just waiting for us Tat-"

The sound of a hand smacking Ieyasu's face echoed across the entire province. Ieyasu reeled in pain while being admonished by the now enraged Sayo. Tatsumi couldn't help it anymore and burst out laughing. It was so common to see his two best friends act like this that it had now become a joke amongst the village people. Despite it being a special day for all of them, the atmosphere made it feel like any other regular day. This made Tatsumi happy: he hoped that he would still be able to experience this kind of homey feeling even if they were away from home.

The three friends walked towards the southern (and only) gate of the village, where they were greeted by mostly everyone whom they had grown up with. Some laughed, others cried, a lot of them asked for souvenirs if they ever returned. Most of them gave trinkets to the trio by which they could be remembered as the three ventured beyond the boundaries of their small town. After everybody had talked with the three young teens, the town elder approached the group of friends.

"You three have grown up faster than any of us could've ever imagined. And in that short amount of time, you have done so much for this small village of ours." The village elder said this with pride, holding back the tears that were welling up in his eyes. "It tears me to send you off to the Capital at such a crucial stage in your lives. As a parting gift, take this figure." The village elder then passed a small statue to Tatsumi. Tatsumi recognized the statue: it represented one of the many gods from the religion known as the "Path to Peace" which was popular in their village. "Keep it close to you and when you are in trouble, go-"

"Sell it right?"

"Wha—NO! DON'T DO THAT!" the village elder replied angrily. "When you are in trouble, keep it close to your body and god will offer his helping hands to you."

Ieyasu burst out laughing in tears, causing Sayo to smack once again and scold him for laughing.

"Alright." The village elder smiled, revealing the wear and tear he had experienced throughout all of the long years of his life. A teardrop was beginning to form at the edge of his partially blind eye. "Now make haste! The journey to the capital will be long and hard. I wish you all the best of luck and hope that we may meet again in the near future. Now farewell, and may you bring good fortune to our village!"

 _As the three began to walk away, the town screamed after them. They were going to miss the happy faces that had lived in that village ever since birth. As the town bid their young adventurers farewell, the three friends looked at each other with glee. Who knew what adventures awaited them in the distant and mysterious capital?_

 _Little did they know that they would soon be separated, and the next time they saw each other would be their last._

* * *

 **Akame ga Kill!: Distortion**

 **By WritingAmateur0604**

 **ACT I: Enter the Darkness**

 **Chapter 1: Separated and Lost**

Tatsumi woke up to the sound of screaming and what sounded like an eagle's screech mixed with the ominous growl of a grizzly bear. From the roar itself, he knew that it was probably an Earth Dragon, something rarely seen near his village. The screaming came from two men who seemed to be outside of the…

Actually, **where was he?**

 _He, Sayo, and Ieyasu are fighting a group of bandits. During the fight, they are forced to separate and promise to meet each other at the Capital. He defeats the bandits but gets knocked out, and the next thing he knows he is stuck in a room full of crates._ How the hell did that happen!?

"Maybe I was rescued..."

Tatsumi then remembers the faces of two merchants before blacking out. This wasn't a storage room; this was a caravan!

A caravan that was now shaking vigorously due to the appearance of a first class Danger Beast.

"These men probably saved my life." Tatsumi thought. "I better return the favor."

Dashing out of the caravan, Tatsumi instinctively lunges at the Earth Dragon's left arm. Unsheathing his sword, he quickly slices off the limb, which creates a soft thud as it lands on the ground beneath the monster. The wild beast screams in agony and in rage.

"You're angry, huh?" Tatsumi asks proudly, provoking the creature to attack him head on.

The beast lunges at Tatsumi, desperately trying to grab him with his other arm. Tatsumi simply sidesteps and, noticing an opening, slashes at the beast's legs. The creature tries to balance itself out, giving Tatsumi enough time to prepare for his final assault. Scaling its body, Tatsumi jumps high above the creature's head, falling back down with an accompaniment of quick swipes and slashes. In less than a second, the beast was no more.

The two merchants stand in awe as what is now left of the beast drops to the ground in a puddle of its own blood. They then focus their attention on the small brown-haired boy who lands gracefully in front of them. It seems as though he hasn't broken a single sweat.

"Amazing!" the fatter of the two exclaims. "You took down that Danger Beast single-handedly!"

"Well, obviously! For me, something like that was a piece of cake!"

Expecting modesty, the merchants are utterly bewildered by the boy's proud attitude. After a short pause, the boy continues.

"Anyway, my name is Tatsumi. You best remember it, especially when I make it big in the Capital."

Though the boy speaks with triumph, the mood suddenly changes as the two exchange wary looks before speaking to the boy in whispery voices.

"So, you want to make it big in the Capital?" the plump merchant asks in an almost furtive tone.

"Why of course!" the boy exclaims. "Becoming rich and famous in the capital is every country boy's dream!"

Once again, the two merchants look at each other with worry-stricken faces.

"What's the matter?" Tatsumi asks.

"The Capital is not the place that many dream it to be." It is now the taller of the two who speaks up. "There are many other monsters more vicious than this Earth Dragon."

"So, even the capital is infested with Danger Beasts?" asks a confused Tatsumi.

" **The people. Though lively, their hearts are like monsters: greedy and corrupt.** You best be careful when exploring the area."

"I appreciate the words of advice," Tatsumi replies, "but I can't turn back now. I promised-no, we promised that we would make money at the Capital and save our village."

"So, you already have friends waiting for you." The two men sigh. "Well, as a gift of our gratitude, take this."

The shorter man enters the caravan and comes out a few seconds later with a fully-loaded revolver, a leather holster that is worn around the waistline, and a small pouch half-filled with big bullets. The revolver didn't look all that special; as a matter of fact, it seemed old and rusty, with its gold paint starting to peel off due to years of use. He offered the gun to Tatsumi.

Seeing the boy's hesitation, the taller man explained to him its purpose. "Listen Tatsumi," the taller man said in a mellow voice. "Although that sword is good at short range offense, it is no good against a long-ranged enemy. Many people in the Capital will be using weapons such as these, so it's safer if you have a backup just in case somebody wants to kill you. We believe that you're a great kid with a lot of potential, so we don't want your life to just go to waste in the city like so many before you."

Tatsumi thought that the man was joking, until he saw that the two men were dead serious. He first examined the gun before looking back at the merchants. Finally, he shook his head.

"I'm sorry kind sirs, but I'm afraid that I can't accept your offer." Tatsumi tried to say this as polite and as quietly as possible as he didn't want to attract any unwanted attention. "Back at our village, guns were symbols of impatience and indiscipline."

"At the Capital however," the shorter man explained, "nobody is patient and nobody has any sort of discipline whatsoever. **It is a place ruled by greed and by fear.** "

After a moment of silence, Tatsumi decided that he might as well accept the merchants' offer. After all, it wasn't like he was going to use it or anything, unless of course if it was an extreme life-or-death situation. There was nothing wrong with being careful.

Tatsumi strapped the holster around his waist in such a way that it was partially covered by his v-neck. He then examined the gun one more time before placing it neatly inside of its supposed container. He placed the bag of bullets in his own bag.

"Thanks for the help. Who knows what would have happened out there if you hadn't found me."

"You're thanking us?!" the two said in unison. "We should be thanking you?! If it weren't for you, we would have gone "kapoof!" Both of them started to laugh heartily, with the plump merchant crying tears of relief. "Just always remember to be safe when you are in the Capital. You can't trust anyone in there."

"I will," replied Tatsumi. "By the way, I never got your names."

"Oh, well I'm Haru and this is my younger brother Haruki," the shorter man said as he motioned his hand towards his much taller brother, "and we're known in the Capital as the Nakamura brothers."

"We mostly sell antiquities," Haruki added, "but we also act as weapon dealers for-"

"We recently had to raise the prices, however," Haruki said in a somewhat downcast voice, "as the recession has caused a sudden increase in both food and material prices. We make do with what we have though."

"Here!" said Haru, who gave Tatsumi what seemed to be a business card. "This card contains our shop's complete address. If you ever need someone to talk to, just head over there and we can hang out."

"Well, thanks again for everything Haru and Haruki!" Tatsumi said joyfully. He was happy that he met such friendly people on his way to the Capital.

"You too Tatsumi!" Haru said. "Stay safe!" Haruki reminded him.

 _And with that, the two parties bid each other farewell, not knowing what was waiting for either of them in the Capital._


	2. Dissapointed and Swindled

**Chapter 2: Disappointed and Swindled**

"WOW! SO THIS IS THE CAPITAL! IT'S SO... AWESOME!"

Tatsumi screamed at the sight of the capital's magnificence. The gates themselves were stories high, but the structures contained within were fantastically huge. A lot of them had two to three floors made out of pure stone! Back at the village, people only had flats made out of wood and hide, so seeing stone houses was a marvelous sight for a country boy like Tatsumi.

And it wasn't just the buildings that shocked him, but the amount of people as well. Although the streets had the breadth of three cottages, they were all crowded tight and bustling with noise. Tatsumi wondered how people actually got to relax in the Capital, with its roads being so alive and busy.

"If I became successful here, I could buy the entire village!" Tatsumi exclaimed. His fiery spirit was now more motivated than ever to earn money for his big family back in the province.

His shouting had attracted some attention, but that didn't matter to him. As a matter of fact, Tatsumi had the feeling that if he attracted more attention, he would end up finding Sayo and Ieyasu. Speaking of Sayo and Ieyasu...

"We did agree to meet up at the entrance of the barracks," Tatsumi thought. He knew that his friends would remember the meeting place, but Ieyasu was bad with directions. It would be days before he even found the Capital.

"While waiting for them, I could try to register for the army ahead of time," Tatsumi thought to himself. "I've gotta get to the barracks right away!"

After thirty minutes of searching the streets of the Capital, Tatsumi finally found the military recruitment center. "Finally," he thought. "This is my chance to become an actual Imperial soldier!"

 **10 minutes (of waiting) later...**

"Hello sir, I would like to apply for the Imperial Army!" Tatsumi was grinning from ear to ear.

"Oh. So you're another new applicant huh." The short man at the counter seemed indifferent to the boy's enthusiasm. "Then fill out this form before bringing it back to me."

After a few seconds of reading the form, Tatsumi looked up from the paper. "Wait...does this mean that I start off as a foot soldier?"

"Obviously."

"Can't I be placed as a commanding officer?"

"No."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. I'm sure."

Tatsumi loudly slammed the form onto the table. "Like I have time for that!" Having now unsheathed his sword, Tatsumi made a boastful show of his skills in front of everybody in the building before pointing his sword's tip at the center of the recruiter's neck. "Take a look at my technique! If I look promising, please promote me to a better rank!"

Instead of amusement, however, the recruiter's initially apathetic face reddened at an alarming rate as he grabbed Tatsumi by the collar and threw him out the back door. "SCRAM YOU FUCKING BRAT!" were the last words that were heard from the man before the door was slammed shut behind him.

Tatsumi sighed. "I really shouldn't have made a scene," he thought. "At this rate, I'll never become a soldier."

As he was about to give up hope, however, he was greeted by the lighthearted voice of a woman.

"Hey there!" the blonde woman said. "You seem troubled young boy. Should your big sister right here lend you a hand?"

As Tatsumi leaned back from his sitting position, he was surprised to find two large round breasts situated right under a very revealing black undergarment.

"So this is the Capital…" He now saw what Ieyasu meant by "hot girls." He didn't regret getting thrown out of the building.

"You must be one of those coming from the countryside seeking success, correct?"

"H-how did you know?" asked a surprised Tatsumi.

"If you live long enough in the Capital, you can tell who the outsiders are in a heartbeat," the blonde woman replied. Possibly in her early twenties (that's what her sizes told Tatsumi at the very least), she seemed rather cheery and kind, although Tatsumi did also note that she looked mischievous and seemed to have ulterior motives. "Suspicious," he thought to himself. "Why would a girl like her be wandering around the back entrance of the barracks?"

"So," the blonde woman said, "I know a quick way to get commissioned."

"REALLY?!" exclaimed a surprised Tatsumi. In that moment, he forgot everything that he had noticed about the suspicious character. He was desperate to get into the army; he was just glad that he found a way to in the end.

"If you wanna know how," answered the sly woman, "treat your big sis out for a meal!"

* * *

 **2 hours later...**

"Whoo-hoo!" exclaimed the drunk woman, her movements and facial expressions making her look like a well-fed cat. "I'm famished. Beer really helps in the morning, doesn't it?!

Tatsumi was just staring at all of the empty bottles on the table. "H-how the FUCK did she drink all of that?!" Tatsumi's mind screamed. "The only people back home who drank this much were the oldies, but this girl...she's just a few years older than me!"

After a few more moments of watching the woman's smug face, Tatsumi snapped. "Look, just tell me how I can get commissioned," said an annoyed Tatsumi.

"Oh, that's easy," the blonde woman said slyly. She slowly began to lean towards Tatsumi from across the table, her eyes likening even more to that of a feline. "Here in the Capital, there are only two things that you need to survive: **connections** and **cash**. **Without them, you wouldn't even last a single day.** "

"I have a friend in the army. If you give him enough cash, he can give you a high ranking position."

Tatsumi immediately brought out a heavy bag filled with gold coins. "This is all I have. Will this be enough?"

"Wow! Definitely!" The woman suddenly stood up from the table to glance inside of the bag. From Tatsumi's angle, he saw that the woman wore nothing except for black silk undergarments and white leggings. To make her look even more unusual, she also wore a mysterious belt with a 7-sided circle in the middle. She was definitely from the slums.

"How did you get all of this!?" The woman's eyes sparkled as she greedily placed her arms inside of the bag, feeling every single coin to make sure that it was all authentic, that she wasn't dreaming.

"I killed a lot of Danger Beasts on my way here," Tatsumi answred. "These are all of the rewards."

"Oh, so you're good at killing Danger Beasts, huh." The woman turned her gaze back to Tatsumi, a wide Cheshire smile forming across her face. Somehow, the woman seemed even more mischievous than before. It was as if she were plotting something, something that included Tatsumi in it.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be taking this money off to my friend," the girl said as she quickly grabbed the money and winked goodbye. "This will surely land you a position as a commanding officer. Just wait for me here, m'kay?"

"Okay!" Tatsumi could hardly wait.

* * *

It had just taken two minutes for him to realize that he had been swindled. Fuck.

With practically no money left, Tatsumi spent the rest of the day exploring the city and finding a possible new job. After receiving a map from a local bookstore, Tatsumi started marking off places on the map that he might find useful in the future. He was able to locate the Imperial Police's station and the Nakamura brothers' antique shop, both of which he decided that he would need in the near future. If his friends didn't come back soon, he would have to report it to the authorities. If he got lonely, he could always visit Haru and Haruki for company (that was according to them at least).

If his friends didn't come back the next day, he also decided that he would have to work as a blacksmith for the time being. Though he wasn't very good at it, the village elder taught him how to forge weaponry a long time ago. Though the job was tiring, he always found it as some sort of recreational break from all of the rigorous training that he experienced throughout the week.

With it getting dark and everyone returning to their homes, it was then that Tatsumi realized that he had no place to stay. Remembering what the mysterious woman had told him, he had no connections and no cash, meaning that he couldn't survive a day in the Capital.

Tatsumi sighed. His first day in the "marvelous" Capital had proved to be a huge disappointment. Not only was he not accepted into the army, but he was also tricked by a beautiful woman!

"Man!" exclaimed Tatsumi. "Now I understand what the Nakamuras were saying about the people here. Everyone is greedy, unlike the village where I came from." Tatsumi then remembered his two friends, his only companions on this adventure. "I hope that Sayo and Ieyasu are safe." He felt like crying, but he held it in as he knew that there was still hope, hope that he would succeed in the Capital and hope that he would see his friends again.

Tatsumi then decided to sleep on the road that night, right next to a lamp stand that stood in front of an arched cobblestone bridge. Using his jacket as a blanket, he tried to sleep in the cold winter's air. Recounting his many experiences that day, the naive boy slowly dozed off.

"Stop! Has that person not have any place to stay? How unfortunate!"

"But My Lady, it is already dark! Bringing home somebody this late at night is danger—-"

"I can't help it! It's my nature"

Tatsumi opened his eyes to find a little well-kept blonde girl in a frilly blue nightdress standing right in front of his slumped body. He could tell that she was rich just by looking at her personal horse-drawn carriage and her 3 strong-looking bodyguards, not to mention her very refined accent.

"Did you come from the countryside?" the little girl asked him.

He was so sleepy that all he could do was barely nod his head.

"If you don't have a place to stay, why not come over to my house?"

After being swindled, Tatsumi was pretty skeptical about this girl's offer. She did look innocent and truthful, yet Tatsumi wasn't so sure. The girl a while ago did look nice and kind, but she was actually an effing swindler, so...

Just then, one of the girl's personal guards approached him. "Lady Aria can't leave people like you lying on the streets. You should just accept her offer; she'll just keep on pestering you if you don't."

After a few moments of hesitation, Tatsumi let out a weary sigh. "Well, I guess it's better than sleeping on the streets..."

"Then it's settled!" cried Lady Aria. "You're sleeping at my mansion tonight!"


	3. The Lost Found

**What if?**

 **What if Tatsumi experienced his friends' deaths another way?**

 **What if Night Raid came to the right place at the wrong time?**

 **What if Tatsumi came to the right place BEFORE the right time?**

 **It all begins with a single "What if?"**

 **Chapter 3: The Lost Found**

Tatsumi was alone inside of a garish bedroom, pondering what had just happened. Although he had had a rough day, a rich girl invited him to sleep inside of her huge mansion in a room reserved just for him. It was too good to be true, but according to Aria's parents, Aria had a great habit of inviting the needy to her home to rest. It was nice to know that there were still good people who lived in the greedy Capital.

Even with this comfort, however, Tatsumi still worried for his friends, with him even asking Aria's father to help him look for them. Fortunately, the family had connections in the military, so they would be able to get help when searching for two lost country bumpkins in the middle of the big city.

When Tatsumi heard that they were willing to help, he was greatly overjoyed. He knew that he could also ask them to help him get into the military, but that was too much to ask from a family of kind strangers. Tatsumi was sure that they had never even met before, yet Aria's family was so pure-hearted and sympathetic towards him.

Of course, Tatsumi had offered to become Aria's bodyguard as a sign of his gratitude. Aria and her parents were more than willing to accept his offer and even thanked him for his kindness.

"They thanked me, even if it should be me who is thanking them."

As he was about to go to sleep, Tatsumi remembered all of his hopes and dreams and the promises that he had made to his family and to his friends. Although they seemed difficult, knowing that he had those goals in the first place made him smile as they motivated him to reach for a brighter future.

"I promise you, mom and dad, that I will make it big in the Capital."

 **"I promise you that I—no, we will save our** **village."**

And as time gradually passed him by, Tatsumi slowly fell into a deep, horrifying sleep.

* * *

 _In his dream, Tatsumi was pointing his pointed sword towards a beat-up girl. It was obvious that Tatsumi had just killed somebody, as there was still fresh blood on the sword's blade. The petrified girl was kneeling in a pink dress which matched the color of her two pink ponytails. She had big round pink eyes that were the size of the moon, but her lips were small like an almond. Her beauty was somewhat ruined, however, by the splatter of blood that ran through her clothes and her hair, reminiscent of a sword's streak mark. It looked like she was behind the victim when the killing had happened._

 _Tatsumi soon realized that he too was drenched in blood, much more blood on his clothes than the girl. Some distance away was a contraption that he had never seen before; it looked like a gigantic gun, but he couldn't be certain._

 _The girl was looking at the bloody blade, terribly frightened and in no condition to fight._

 _"You-You-You-!" The girl stammered as tears started to flood out of her eyes._

 _Much to Tatsumi's surprise, he stayed quiet. He looked at the girl without pity and without remorse. Anger started to swell up inside of him as he moved the sword closer to the girl's neck._

 _"You're next."_

 _There was a scream, a swipe of the sword, and a burst of light before the dream faded._

* * *

Tatsumi jerked awake from his dream covered in sweat and in tears. He may not have known the girl, yet he was scared to death as to why he didn't hesitate in killing her so easily. It seemed like the girl was begging for her life, begging for mercy. But he was angry, angry enough to kill her and spill her blood all over the cobble floor.

Tatsumi looked out of the portrait window by his bedside. The midnight moon was still luminous in the dark star-studded blanket, meaning that he hadn't slept for too long.

It still bothered him though how vivid the dream, or more accurately the nightmare was. He could feel the weight of the sword in his hand, the blood seeping into his clothes and making contact with his skin, the horrid stench of death. He could feel his own exhaustion and its affirmation throughout all of the muscles in his body, yet he could also feel an intense rage which fueled whatever he was about to do. It was all too scary to be true, but it was also too real to just be a dream.

Shaken up, Tatsumi continued to stare out of his window. The night was serene and unadulterated by the troubles of the common man, something which contradicted Tatsumi's view of the Capital as a city that never slept. Then again, Aria's family lived in a more secluded region of the Capital, one solely filled with mansions of the wealthy, so it made sense as to why the surrounding neighborhood seemed so peaceful.

Tatsumi opened and stuck his face out of the large window to get a breath of fresh air. Despite the air not being arguably as light and as clean as the air back in his home province, the added scents of a variety of flowers made it just as refreshing. The cool breeze that naturally wafted onto his face only added to the comfort that he experienced and (to be honest) needed the most as of that moment.

After a few moments, Tatsumi decided that he might as well go out for a walk within the mansion grounds. At the time, he saw that as the simplest way to ease him from his troubles.

As he was exiting the room, he made sure to wear his nifty sword around his back. Bringing his sword with him whenever he went outdoors was a habit that he wanted to form here in the Capital, fully aware that danger could strike from anywhere at anytime. As Lady Aria's new bodyguard, if he found anything suspicious during his nighttime walk, he would have to deal with it before it could harm the family.

To his surprise, however, he found Aria and her parents walking out in the garden together alongside a group of eight bodyguards. Curious as to what they were up to, Tatsumi decided to follow them from behind the tree trunks and bushes. With Aria being only nine years old, he didn't know what was so important that Aria had to walk with her parents at midnight, let alone require the presence of eight fully-armed guards within their own compound.

"Maybe they just aren't that secure," Tatsumi thought to himself, although his curiosity still forced him to continue following the family.

After shadowing the family for a couple of minutes, the nightshade path led into a clearing with nothing but an old warehouse. At this point, the family stopped and the bodyguards were told to return to their original posts. Only two of their bodyguards stayed to follow them. Their best bodyguards. What was so important about this warehouse Tatsumi didn't know, but he suddenly got a bad feeling in his gut.

What was so important about this warehouse Tatsumi didn't know, but he suddenly got a bad feeling in his gut. Part of him was screaming, saying that he shouldn't dig up secrets of the people who had just helped him out; he did still owe them his gratitude after all. Yet for some reason, he was inexplicably drawn to the secrets of the mystery shack. Despite his distance, he could already sense a dark aura emanating from within. If something evil really was inside of the structure, Tatsumi thought that he deserved to know, or better yet, if something dangerous really was inside of the building, Tatsumi knew that the family deserved his protection.

As he crept closer to the warehouse, a nasty stench began to emit from within. Tatsumi knew this lethargic smell, he just couldn't pinpoint what it was. As if his mind was playing tricks on him, a smile also began to play on the lips of the young Aria. She was humming a playful tune, skipping up and down to its steady rhythm.

Tatsumi knew that the song was twisted, but more than that, he knew that something wasn't right. How could the girl be so happy in contrast to the dreary and nauseating smell? How could she be so energetic when approaching such a place in the middle of the night? For whatever reason, he didn't know, but by this time all of his instincts were telling him to run.

"It's too late to turn back now," Tatsumi silently said to himself. "Just a small peek shouldn't hurt. After that, you have to go back to sleep immediately before anybody finds you."

So as the guards and their host family entered the two big wooden doors, Tatsumi quickly ran inside and hid behind a stack of boxes in the corner.

 **What he saw left him paralyzed to the spot. It turned his whole world upside-down.**

In the warehouse, rotting corpses littered the floors and ceiling as their nauseating smell filled the room. Some of them were placed within steel cages at the sides, while others were just left lying on the open blood-stained floor. Aside from twisted limbs and shattered bones, most of the bodies were covered in big red patches that ate at the skin as if they were all infected with some sort of grotesque disease. They were brutalized in a variety of ways: some of them were missing eyes and limbs while others were inexpertly skinned alive. Tatsumi could point out how some of them had died as he saw the hideous and medieval contraptions that they had stationed all throughout the building. Some even hung from meat hooks, their chests and faces pierced as their organs lazily hung out at the sides. The collection of the dead included both young and old, but they all shared similar looks of fatigue, horror, and most of all, **agony**.

 **This wasn't just a warehouse. This was a torture room. A private torture room hosted by Aria's entire family.**

Tatsumi couldn't believe what he was seeing. Most of these people looked like they too were from the countryside: they didn't dress or look like regular city-goers and they certainly did not look like they had a lot of money. People of all ages were being tortured and killed: elderly males, female adults, even young children and a number of newborn infants.

What shocked Tatsumi the most, however, was the teenage girl that he saw hanging by her arms near the entrance of the chamber. Her entire naked body was slashed and she was barely hanging onto life. The girl was desperately trying to cry, but no water came out of her eyes. Only blood came flowing down her damaged body.

 **She had** **black, long, and beautiful hair, with her signature purple flower hairpin pinned onto her head.**

"Sayo... Sayo... Sa-!" Tatsumi was shocked to see his friend in such a state. **No, not just his friend, his sister.** The sympathetic people who he asked for help finding Sayo had her in their warehouse all this time. **They had tortured her to the brink of death. They had tortured his sister to the brink of death.  
**

So if Sayo was here, then Ieyasu...

"Are you ready for your punishment Sayo-san?" Aria said this with malicious delight, a psychotic grin slicing through her entire face.

Sayo tried to turn her head to look at Aria, but her neck hurt so much that she couldn't even muster the power to do so. She was crying painfully, her moans dry and agonizing to hear. She sounded like a dying donkey, just waiting to be kicked to death.

"DON'T YOU DARE PUT YOUR HANDS ON HER!" It was a spiky-haired boy who shouted from within one of the multiple steel cages. His face was brutally wounded and was covered with red patches, just like most of the other people trapped in the building. Ieyasu was simultaneously coughing out heaps of blood.

" **Don't worry Ieyasu-sama.** " This time, it was Aria's mother who answered. " **You'll get your turn very soon.** "

Pulling out a small peeling knife, Aria smiled as she started to skin Sayo alive. She started out rough, having trouble peeling off the skin on Sayo's now dry back, but it only took a few moments for the child to swiftly take off huge uneven chunks out of the near-dead teenager. Soon enough, bits of bone began to protrude out of Sayo's body as her blood spilled down onto the girl named Aria. Sayo's dry scream echoes around the whole room, causing a few other people to moan out in pity and in pain. Ieyasu was now on his knees as he cried out tears of blood, the only thing that he could do whilst awaiting his torturous "punishment."

Tatsumi couldn't take it anymore. Grabbing the hilt of his sword, Tatsumi dashes towards Aria, slicing her in two. Her parents and the guards are shocked at the sudden appearance of their supposed guest.

" **Nobody messes WITH MY FRIENDS!** " Tatsumi screamed as he proceeded to slash open the bodies of Aria's parents, their guts spilling all over the torture chamber floor. Now turning towards the guards, Tatsumi's rage reaches boiling point as he produces an ear-shattering roar.

It was in these moments that Tatsumi found out how rage can grant powers beyond his own capabilities, beyond what he thought to be humanly possible. Using his speed to his advantage, Tatsumi dashes towards the guards, dodging every single one of their aimless bullets. After getting close enough to his targets, Tatsumi takes both of them out in a single blow.

After recovering from his anger-filled rampage, Tatsumi turns around to look at his handiwork. The girl, her parents, their guards: **all of them were dead.**

His fury quickly turns into concern, however, having just realized that he still had friends in need of release. Barely managing a weak smile of relief, Tatsumi turns around to face Sayo.

"Sayo, it's okay, you're safe..."

Shock is written all over his aghast face as he looks upon Sayo's now lifeless body. Three of the stray bullets hit Sayo directly, one of which hit her in the middle of her chest.

"Tatsumi..." A voice groaned from the darkness. Tatsumi is forced out of his horror as he remembers his brother in need.

"Ieyasu!" Tatsumi sliced open Ieyasu's cage and carried him out.

"Are you okay?" Tatsumi asked in a frightened voice.

"Do I look okay?" Ieyasu replied jokingly, forcing a smile despite the torturous pain.

"Don't worry Ieyasu," Tatsumi said with a shaky voice as he clasped Ieyasu's hand. "I'll get you to a doctor, we'll have this figured out, and-"

"Don't tire yourself out." As he said this, Ieyasu made sure to look Tatsumi straight in the eyes. "That woman poisoned us. It's too late for us now."

"But what about all of our dreams and plans?!" Tatsumi screamed as his tears began to fall. "What about saving the village?! What about becoming successful?! What about adventure Ieyasu?! What will happen to us now?!"

" **Well, I guess that you'll have to be resilient enough to accomplish all of those things for us.** "

Tatsumi was speechless. He now understood the feeling of utter powerlessness, the feeling of no control. His two best friends were dying right in front of him, and there was nothing that he could do to stop their demise.

"You know," said a worn out Ieyasu, "Sayo didn't give into that little bitch, even until the very end. It was so cool." Even if Ieyasu was coughing out heaps of blood, he still smiled triumphantly, as if he had already accomplished his goals in life and was now ready to be laid to rest. "So for my death, Ieyasu-sama will die proudly, as a master and as a he-"

Ieyasu slowly closed his eyes. His arms and legs went limp as he breathed his final breath. Finally, the pain which had plagued him for so long had now stopped. **Forever.**

The shock was over and was replaced with a flood of tears. He finally realized that he had just lost the people that cared for him more than anyone in the world. First it was his parents, next it was his closest companions; in essence, life was killing off his whole family, leaving him alive but alone. He didn't know if it was a blessing or a curse: **couldn't they had just died together?** It would've been painful, but it would also have been valiant and with the people he loved the most in the world, **and that was what Tatsumi had always wanted from the beginning.**

But looking at their lifeless bodies was like seeing his hopes get crushed before his eyes. They were gone forever, and he would have to continue this journey alone. Everything they had planned together, everything that they wanted to do together, all of it was gone in an instant.

"WHY?!" Tatsumi screamed, the intense rage coming back to his tortured soul. "WHY THEM?! WHY ME?! WHAT HAVE I DONE TO DESERVE THIS?!"

Tatsumi started to bang his fists against the hard cold wall that was stained with the blood of many innocents, including the blood of his former friends. "Why? Why me? WHY ME?!"

The night answered him with cold, dead, silence.

* * *

"Mine, do you see them?"

"Nuh-uh. Doesn't seem like they've come out yet."

"Huh, that's weird. Our intel says that they should have come out by now."

Leone put her hand to her chin as a gesture of thought. "Maybe they just went out for the night."

"I checked their schedule a while ago," Akame replied in a stoic voice. Her red eyes were calmly surveying the German-styled mansion from atop a landing made of infinite strings. "They should be here."

"What if they already started to torture people?" replied an uneasy Mine. Her pink ponytails stretched down her back as she aimed her gun at the garden's plaza. "They could have just decided to start early."

"Possible." Leone then snapped her fingers. "Okay... Akame? You, Sheele, and I will have to go down and search the area. I'll go search the house with Sheele while you search the warehouse. Got it?"

"Hm-hm" was the reply Leone received from both Sheele and Akame before they all graciously jumped off their platform in the sky.

Upon reaching the ground, Leone twisted the 7-sided circle in the middle of her belt, transforming her into a humanoid beast. Ears sprouted from the top of her head while her hands turned into ferocious lion paws. Sheele, on the other hand, fixed her glasses and prepared her weapon Extase, a gigantic pair of scissors that could cut through anything in existence without fail. As usual, she was wearing her sleeveless purple cheongsam which matched her purple hair and purple eyes.

As the two rushed towards the direction of the mansion, Akame started to walk towards the old warehouse. Her black white-collared sleeveless miniskirt with a red tie could have been considered an inappropriate attire due to the air's chilly breeze that night, but being a trained assassin, Akame was used to working in a multitude of environments. This attire just allowed her to be more flexible with her movements.

According to her intel, this warehouse was a torturing chamber created for the entertainment of the mansion's owners. They would often house people from the countryside and in their sleep, would lock them up here and slowly torture them until they lost the will to live. Reports say that around this time of night, moaning and wailing could be heard from inside of the building, signifying the start of the family's torture session.

To Akame's surprise, however, instead of the dry moans of the dying, she heard loud banging on the warehouse's doors followed by a deafening scream that echoed from within.

 _"WHY ME?!"_

Akame pulled out her sword and prepared herself to attack. She didn't know who or what was inside of that chamber, but she was prepared to take it down with a single strike.

A few moments later, the warehouse doors opened and out came a brown-haired boy wearing a simple v-neck. The boy's green eyes shined in the moonlit night but contrasted the abundant amount of blood that covered his chest and pants. He had a sword strapped around his back and a gun holstered around his waist, yet he looked too distraught and tired to actually defend himself; he looked as if he could collapse at any moment.

He was also carrying two dead teenagers that were around his age (a girl and a boy) around his shoulders. They both seemed to have died from Lubora, a sickness that most of the torture victims received from the drugs given to them, although the three bullet holes in the girl's corpse suggested otherwise.

She was sure that they were both close friends of his.

For a few seconds, Akame and the boy stared at each other. They were both around seventeen years of age, and based on the boys' "messy" look, they had both experienced things that teenagers didn't usually go through.

"Don't worry, you're not a target." That was the only reply Akame could think of that might comfort the boy. "We were targeting the-"

 **"She's dead. They're dead. All of them. Dead."**

An awkward silence swept the area. Akame didn't expect somebody to beat the Night Raid to the targets. Based on his outfit and his simple lightheaded and naive looks, she already knew that he was from the countryside.

That being said though, if this wasn't a paid assassination, this was just a form of revenge. Revenge for the death of his friends. Revenge in the form of death.

 **Retribution.**

Still, the anger that she sensed from the boy was different in a certain way. Sure, anyone who had just seen the death of his friends would be mad too, but they would be more overcome with grief than with anger. This was a different kind of rage. Unlike most others, it was this boy's sadness and confusion that contributed to his rage and created an aura of... **murderous intent**.

Though he wasn't a target, Akame was tempted to kill him right on the spot. Aside from the possibility of him telling others about Night Raid's presence that night, she was also worried about his current state. Anybody with unstable emotions could do things that they normally wouldn't think of doing. He could become brash and become a danger to himself and to the people around him. Akame had seen it happen to many people before, and she didn't want to see it happen again.

"No," Akame thought to herself. "All this boy needs is some help." If he didn't have anybody to go to, Night Raid could at the very least try to take care of him for the time being.

But she didn't move. Something kept her from keeping her sword. Something kept her from reaching out a helping hand. Something kept her from doing anything. Something strong. Something...

"Tch." The boy put on a facade of annoyance, but it was clear that his intense anger had suddenly transformed into painful grief. He slowly shook his head as he walked towards to the edge of the garden and right outside the gate. He didn't seem physically hurt, but he was emotionally in pain. Seeing your friends die is more painful than any battle scar. Akame also knew this all too well.

Akame sheathed her sword as the boy disappeared from sight. She sighed. Who was she kidding when she thought that she could help a suffering boy? No matter what, it was the boy who needed to learn how to switch gears by himself. It was not like he would accept her help anyway.

Besides, if the bodies of the dead targets were proof of anything, it was that the boy was a strong fighter. Sooner or later, his resolve to keep on fighting would naturally rekindle within his heart, with or without anybody's help.

That was what she wanted to tell herself at least, but she knew that the heart was not so easily healed.

* * *

A few minutes later, the sound of running could be heard from behind Akame. Leone and Sheele had completed their search of the house.

"Whoo! That was fun!" Leone wore a big smile on her face, although her paws suggested that her victims didn't have such an enjoyable death.

"They weren't that challenging though," Sheele replied flatly, a ditzy smile on her face. It was often hard to read what Sheele was really thinking due to her airheadedness. Akame decided that maybe she usually didn't think of anything at all.

"So," Leone asked Akame. "Did you deal with the family?"

Akame stayed silent for a few moments before speaking up. "Yeah, they're dead."

Leone raised an eyebrow. "Uh, are you okay Akame?"

Akame was silent. She slowly turned her head and looked towards Leone and Sheele. Both of their clothes were splattered in blood.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

Leone looked at Sheele for a few moments before shrugging her shoulders and passing it off as nothing.

"Well, we did find something interesting inside of the mansion," Sheele said in a meek voice as she took off a backpack that she had slung on. The backpack looked pretty old but was filled to the brim with items of every kind.

"Well, we better bring this back to base," Leone said as Sheele started to put on the backpack. Before long, the three of them were back on the landing and the entire group had disappeared from the night.

* * *

"Boss! You're back!"

Everybody in the Night Raid was glad to see their boss back once they had returned to their secret hideout. The base was located on top of a cliff overlooking a river in the middle of a vast forest. It was shielded by a gigantic rock in order to hide it from enemy view, as no commoners dared to venture out to this depth of the forest since the last century. From afar, however, it looked magnificent.

Their boss, General Najenda, headed all of their missions and was also their messenger for the Revolutionary Army. The Night Raid was just a small covert operations group that helped the Revolutionary Army from the shadows, and thus their main purpose was to carry out the Army's direct orders in order to help the revolution progress. When they had free time, they opened up to the public as "assassins for hire", but would only entertain those who wanted to eliminate corrupt and powerful people. They believed that even the most seemingly insignificant of jobs would help bring about the new order that they were promised by the revolution.

"Anyway," the general asked casually, "how did your recent mission go?"

"It was a success Boss," Leone replied gleefully. "Akame killed all of our targets."

"Very good Akame. People like them should be exterminated if we want a smooth transition into a new government."

Akame looked at the Boss without any emotion."Thanks. It was nothing."

"By the way Boss," Sheele suddenly added, "we found some things inside of the mansion. We thought that you might want to take a look at them."

"Why? What's so special about these "things"?"

"Well, they were the only things we found inside of the mansion that belonged to a visitor, meaning that he was the last one to stay at their household before they all died. We thought that it might give us a bit of insight as to what exactly happened."

"I see. We'll have to inspect these then."

Everyone gathered around Sheele as she emptied the contents of the bag, with each person then carefully inspecting anything and everything that they found.

"Wow!" Mine exclaimed as she held up two vials of green poison. "This poison is really rare! The guy who owned these must be a hunter or something."

"Yeah, no kidding," replied a curious green-haired Lubbock, who was busily inspecting a quiver of arrows and a wooden bow. His green jacket and red goggles were still clean since he hadn't killed anybody during the mission; he was just there that night to construct the platform in the sky, and was thus eager to actually do something. "Although 'he' might have been a 'she' named Sayo. It says so on the bow."

As everybody was picking up and commenting on the oddities within the bag, Akame had begun to examine a small paper notebook. It had a leather hide and had pages made out of old bamboo. On the first page of the notebook, there was a drawing of three friends, all of whom were laughing cheerily. The one to the leftmost was a young boy with spiky hair while the person on the rightmost was an elegant girl with beautiful long hair.

They were the two people she saw on the boy that night.

What caught her attention, however, was the boy in the middle, who seemed to be a year or two younger than his two friends.

The boy was the exact same boy she saw in the garden, covered with the blood of his enemies.

* * *

Akame was in charge of washing the dishes that night. Everybody had already eaten and had gone to bed. It was good that she was alone, for she needed some time to think.

That boy that she saw in the garden... He didn't seem like an experienced killer. Sure, he was good enough with the sword to have been able to kill the targets and their personal guards, but he didn't seem too used to it. The look in his eyes said it all: the confusion still showed how innocent he was. He wasn't emotionally ready to kill anyone, unlike everybody in Night Raid, who were so used to killing that they sometimes got some fun out of it.

Well, at least the others did, but Akame didn't. She knew that taking somebody else's life was never a joke.

It still bugged her though that amidst all of his confused feelings, anger was the most prominent. Anger should be expected from a boy with a vengeance, but the anger that swelled up inside of him was... extraordinarily powerful. His anger was more powerful than anything she had ever sensed before. Or was it? It also seemed too familiar.

Leone walked into the kitchen, catching Akame in the middle of an unnaturally slow job. She looked worried, but decided to just stay by the doorframe. After a few seconds of absolute silence between the two, she finally spoke up.

"You didn't kill them, did you? You didn't kill our targets."

Akame was surprised by Leone's observations. She turned around to face her.

"How did you-"

"Your sword and your clothes had absolutely no blood on them. I smelled them to make sure."

Akame sighed. She put down the dishes she was cleaning and approached Leone.

"When I got there, the targets were already dead."

Leone scowled as she began to walk towards her fellow assassin. She then stared straight into the eyes of Akame, speechless.

"It was the visitor, wasn't it? The visitor that night killed the family and left his bag."

Akame didn't answer. Her eyes were still locked onto Leone's. Leone sighed.

"Well, if you did see him, why didn't you capture him or ki-"

" **Kurome.** "

"Huh?" Leone was now confused. "What has Kurome got to do with-"

" **The boy reminded me of Kurome.** "

Akame's face remained calm as she said this. That was why the feelings felt so familiar. Kurome also felt the same kind of emotional struggle when...

 **She felt betrayed by her sister.**

Leone looked outside of the window. There was a full moon out that night, and the clouds cleared to reveal a vast multitude of stars under the blanket of the velvet night. The sight was breathtaking.

"Do you think you'll ever see him again?" Leone was still looking out of the window.

"I hope not," Akame replied silently. He seemed like a normal country boy who did nothing wrong, and so she didn't want to start thinking about killing him.

"I think he's a sign," Leone solemnly said as she turned away from the window to face Akame. "A sign to remind us of what we are truly fighting for. We aren't just killing others for the sake of killing. We're doing this so that in the future, people won't have to feel that way anymore. People like that boy, and people like Kurome."

Leone started to walk towards the door. "You better get some sleep Akame. You've had a long night."

Akame smiled at her cheerful and nonchalant comrade. Leone could lift anyone's mood, no matter how gloomy the situation may be. Sure, she was untactful at times, but she was always a great friend.

Akame looked out of the window. The night sky was still shining with millions of bright lights. In a few hours, a new day was about to dawn.


	4. Memories and Goodbyes

**Before anything, I would like to clarify a few things about this work:**

 **1\. I edited the past three chapters, correcting most if not all of their grammatical and spelling mistakes. I have to say though, the next few chapters may not be as "polished" as the first three.**

 **2\. One of your reviews talked about there being too many visions. After re-reading my work, I decided to completely remove Tatsumi's visions of a) the girl in purple and b) Sayo and Ieyasu's death; they were, after all, pretty arbitrary (especially the one that talked about Sayo and Ieyasu lying dead in their graves; it didn't help the story progress at all). The same comment (posted by DPSS) also criticized Tatsumi's description, saying that it was a bit OOC. I do have to admit, I never intended for his personality to do a full 360 at this point in the story. As such, I changed his description and hopefully made it "tamer" so that nobody would get the wrong impression (i.e. I completely removed the word "bloodlust" as that may have made him look crazier than he should have). He will change into an even darker character however, as the story continues to progress.**

 **3\. I will be publishing chapters in bulk instead of one-by-one. This is so that I can gauge the overall flow of the story and so that my stream of thought isn't cut off as often. This will of course make the story's development seem longer as it won't be updated as often as some other fanfics. Rest assured though, I will try to work on it when I can.**

 **4\. For those of you who ship Seryu and Tatsumi or Tatsumi and Akame, I am sorry to say that those two couples are out of the picture. I am not going to be doing any sort of fan service (unless of course saving more lives is considered fan service, in which case that is possible.) This story was never meant to be a romantic drama, so I suggest that you stop reading if you are expecting anything like that. That doesn't mean that romance won't come in sooner or later though (whether I like it or not, Venus can't be separated from Mars even if she is married to Vulcan, if you know what I mean.)**

 **Anyway, back to the story...**

 **Chapter 4: Memories and Goodbyes**

 **Meanwhile...**

Tatsumi was running past flashes of his distorted surroundings. He didn't know where exactly he was headed, but he knew that he was in some sort of forest outside of the Capital.

After carrying his two best friends out of the mansion's vicinity, he proceeded to bring them towards the gate of the city. He knew that if he was going to bury his dead friends, he must do it somewhere very reminiscent of the province: it must have fresh air, lots of trees, and little to no people. If he didn't, he was afraid that his friends would never find peace.

After backtracking the same route that he used to enter the Capital, he took a detour and entered into the vast forest that took up each side of the dirt road. He wasn't sure if the forest had a suitable place to bury them that he could actually revisit in the future, but that was a problem that he could deal with later. As of the moment, he needed to focus on finding a peaceful burial ground for his two best friends.

After a few minutes of aimless running, Tatsumi's pace began to slow down to a laggard walk. The fiery spirit that had allowed him to sprint for as long as he did was dying down and it didn't take long for him to start leaning on the tree trunks for support. It was then that he became aware of Sayo's lengthy hair brush against his hip, her dry and wounded skin scratching against his bloody arms. It was then that he became aware of just how bulky Ieyasu's legs were, his calves bumping Tatsumi's body with every single movement.

Why did this all of this happen so suddenly? All of his dreams (no, their dreams) were crushed in an instant, and there was practically nothing that he could do about it. He had no control over what had just happened, giving him no reason to feel guilty. But still...

"Why... Why...? Why is this happening to me? Why did it have to be my friends? Why?!"

Tatsumi looked up at the starry sky whose vastness knew no bounds. He begged for a reason, a reason for this tragedy and a reason for his anger and grief. Feeling helpless, he held the statue given to him by the village even closer to his heart. He felt so angry, oh so angry with their god who was supposed to "lend them a helping hand." In his time of need, the statue didn't help; neither did their god.

He also felt grief much more painful than anything he had ever experienced before. At least when his parents died, the village was there to comfort him in his sorrow. As of now, nobody was there for him. His two closest companions had just left him to cry on his own.

Tatsumi let out a vehement scream before once again running off with tears swelling in his eyes. The trees around him became a blurry fog as he rushed through the supposedly beautiful scenery. He hated life for its cruel irony: by trying to save his home, those most precious to him had died.

At that moment, he also remembered the three bullet wounds in Sayo's lifeless body. His heart sank even lower as he realized another cruel irony: If he hadn't dodged those bullets, Sayo could have stayed alive, even for just a bit longer. He never did get to hear Sayo's last requests and wishes, as she was never given the chance. The sudden realization made him sick: the fact that Sayo's chance was unexpectedly robbed by three stray bullets.

Tatsumi screamed once again before sprinting even faster. So much pain... So much anger... So much grief... Why did it have to be them? Why did it have to be his friends?! Why did it have to be his family?!

Even if he couldn't find a reason, the fact still stayed true no matter what: he would never see his friends again.

After a few more minutes of running, Tatsumi, to his own surprise, was overlooking a large clearing. The edge of the forest was met by a thin coastline which bordered a river filled with clear water. He then realized that he was situated on a small cliff-like landing that would have been perfect if anyone would have wanted to use it as a diving point into the water below. The incline wasn't too steep, yet it had a pretty good view of the entire treeless area.

From there, Tatsumi saw a much bigger landing across the river below. It had a gigantic rock at its base that seemed to be covering something, he just didn't know what.

In his eyes, this was the perfect burial ground for his two best friends.

As he laid the two down side-by-side, their faces serene as if they were simply sleeping, Tatsumi realized that he had no shovel. Out of the corner of his eye, however, he was able to spot a small shed a few hundred yards from where he stood. Exhausted, Tatsumi decided to walk down the incline and find the quickest way towards the structure.

"What would a structure like this be doing out here?" he thought as he approached the old shack. Putting two and two together, he figured out that there was once a time when people would visit this place every so often, so much so that they had to build a shed. He couldn't blame them: no matter where you looked, the view was magnificent.

As he opened the shed, he was met by the smell of rust, dust, and worn out wood. It had been quite a while since anyone had used this small storehouse. There were engravings on the wall; they looked like coded messages of some sort.

Luckily enough for him, he was able to find an old rusty shovel. He also found some other useful equipment, but before he could place them in his bag...

 **He realized that he had no bag.**

Tatsumi started to freak out. Just where did he leave his bag? Did a thief steal it when he wasn't looking? Maybe he just left it at the landing. Yeah, that was probably it. He was just being forgetful.

 **No... He didn't leave it at the landing. He left it at the mansion.**

Dread and frustration gripped Tatsumi as he punched the side of the small shed, causing it to creak and shake. All of his essentials were in that bag, including the sentimental memorabilia that he could remember his village by.

 **No, not only his belongings, but some of Sayo and Ieyasu's too!**

Aside from that, what would happen if the police found his things? Wouldn't he be blamed for the murder of an entire family? Tatsumi pictured himself inside of a courthouse, with everybody in the jury and prosecution jeering him while he was being convicted with charges of manslaughter.

The thought alone made Tatsumi shiver. He knew that he really did kill those evil people, but was he to blame? **They killed his two best friends!**

Out of frustration, Tatsumi punched himself in the face. He needed to stay calm. He still needed to get back to his friends.

As he was heading back to the landing with his newfound shovel, he suddenly remembered the other girl he had seen that night. No, not Aria, but the girl with the red eyes and sharp katana. She seemed to also be around his age, but she seemed to be there with an actual purpose. She knew about the family, calling them "targets" as if she was some sort of assassin.

"Well, it shouldn't be a surprise," Tatsumi thought. "Families like that have lots of enemies."

What really bugged him though was the fact that he was spared. Even if he would be a dangerous eyewitness, she still let him go just because he wasn't a target. There must have been a deeper reason behind it, he just couldn't figure it out at the moment.

After reaching his two friends, he decided to get to work. He first moved Ieyasu aside in order to dig his hole. The ground beneath him was hard and rocky, making it especially hard for him to create some sort of grave. After about an hour of working, Tatsumi was able to create a shallow hole which would be able to fit Ieyasu if his body was bent. He didn't want to do this to the body of an old friend, but his hands were full of blisters and his knees were already giving way. He was so tired that night, more than he had ever been in his entire life. Sure, the physical strain was just as bad as the first time he and his friends had ever trained together, but the emotional pain was just unbelievable. Tatsumi just wanted to sit there and die.

After laying Ieyasu down into his grave, Tatsumi shed a few tears and said a final goodbye before covering up the hole with the coarse dirt. The words "why" and "how" were repeating over and over in his head like a broken cassette tape which punctured his heart with every loop. After Ieyasu's grave was finished, he decided to begin working on Sayo's.

The wear and tear had finally overcome him, however, and before he could finish, his heavy body had collapsed onto the landing.

* * *

"Boss!" cried Mine as she entered General Najenda's room. It was already an hour past midnight, yet Najenda was just preparing herself for sleep.

"There's somebody near our base!"

Najenda's surprised look quickly turned into a serious one as she hastily grabbed her binoculars and followed Mine outside. At the edge of their base was a cliff situated over a river, giving them a clear view of any possible intruders.

On the other side of the river was a much smaller landing, where a small teenage boy with brown hair could be seen.

"What do you think he's doing Boss?" Mine asked as she looked into the scope of her gun. The question was asked with curiosity rather than with fear.

After a long silence, Najenda finally spoke up. "He's digging two graves, one for each of his two friend's."

Mine looked up and stared directly at her boss. Her pink round eyes were riddled with confusion. What was a boy like that doing here?!

"He most likely got lost and probably poses no threat. Just to be safe though, you're in charge of watching him tonight in case of any suspicious movements. Is that clear?"

"Roger!" replied Mine. She then returned her sharp focus onto the boy. Najenda silently stood up, fixed her eyepatch, and walked back towards the base.

Mine continued to watch the boy intently. He seemed tired and had blood all over his shirt. Just what did this boy get himself into?

After a few minutes of watching the boy work, Mine started to pity the boy. Working this late at night was bad enough, but having to dig the graves of two of your friends? Now that was just hardcore.

No, not hardcore. That was just tragic.

He seemed to have no energy left within him, yet he still continued to push on. Anybody with that much strength was admirable in Mine's eyes, but having to do such a depressing task while you're tired wasn't exactly going to attract admiration. It would usually attract pity.

After a few more minutes, however, the boy collapsed with a hard thud. Mine was scared that he had died of exhaustion, but she was relieved as soon as she saw his mouth breathe. This turn of events just made her pity the boy even more.

"What am I supposed to do? I can't even approach the boy, lest he finds out that the Night Raid's base is situated around the area."

Mine was frustrated that she couldn't do anything to help. After watching him for some time, she knew that he wasn't a spy. He really was just an innocent boy.

Innocent? Well, probably not. He did have blood on his clothes.

Mine decided to leave the boy for the night. Since he wasn't going to wake up soon, she might as well watch him again in the morning. Though she didn't want to leave the boy alone, she also wanted to get some of her own sleep. She did deserve it after another successful mission.

Mine looked back at the boy one last time before returning to the base. His bloodstained clothes were barely visible under the shade of the night.

* * *

 _"Tatsumi..." Sayo's voice echoed inside of Tatsumi's head as he faced his two best friends. They both looked so peaceful, as if nothing bad had ever happened to them; they were still wearing their everyday attire and looked as if they hadn't died._

 _Tatsumi couldn't believe what he was seeing. It was so good to see his friends again, even if it was for the last time._

 _"Well, it's about time for us to get going." It was Ieyasu who had borken the silence, sounding pumped as if he were going on some wild adventure. "We're heading this way. You should go back now."_

 _Tatsumi was shocked at what Ieyasu had said. "What are you talking about?" Tatsumi asked. "The three of us will go together, right?"_

 _Ieyasu turned his gaze towards Sayo, who looked intently right back at him. Sayo then turned to face Tatsumi._

 _"As much as we don't want to leave you, we need somebody to complete the mission for us. If all of us are gone, then who will save the village?"_

 _"But... What about all of our plans, our dreams? Didn't you promise the village that..." Tatsumi was close to tears now._

 _"Well, I guess that you'll have to be resilient enough to accomplish all of those things for us." Ieyasu said this optimistically; he always had faith in Tatsumi's abilities. "Besides, you'll end up meeting more friends anyway."_

 _"You can't rely on us forever you know?" Sayo giggled. Her still had the sweetness of a lily flower._

 _"Later, Tatsumi. If there's a heaven, we'll see you there someday, okay?"_

 _As the two friends started to walk away, Tatsumi tried to run after then, only to trip on his own tired legs. He reached out his hand blistered hand towards them, desperately trying to call out to them. "Sayo... Ieyasu... Wait..."_

 ** _"Please...Don't leave me alone..."_**

* * *

Tatsumi suddenly woke up from his painful dream. He never wanted to have that dream ever again, even if it meant never seeing his friends.

Tatsumi sat up and blinked his eyes before scanning his surroundings. He was still on the landing, but it was now late in the afternoon. The birds were singing and the river and forest were alive with the sound of music. The morning smelled like rotten...

Tatsumi looked to his right, only to find a "sleeping" Sayo. He hadn't finished her grave yet. It was about time that he did.

After some time, Tatsumi finally finished burying his two best friends. He then got two gigantic rocks that would have to act as headstones for the time being. For a long time, there was complete silence as Tatsumi stared down at the final resting places of his two companions.

"I can't believe it... They're actually..."

Tatsumi looked up at the blue sky and remembered all of the good times that he had spent with his friends. Those times when he and Ieyasu would prank the other children (and would thus receive huge punishments from the elderly), or when he would hang out with Sayo near the riverbed and they would talk for hours about the stupidest of things. Back at the village, they had a favorite meeting place situated on a mountain ledge where they would go to regularly just to hang out. They enjoyed each other's company so much that watching the sunrise and sunset was an experience already worth sharing between the three of them. When any of them had a problem, they would always try to help each other out and would comfort one another, no matter the situation. They were practically siblings.

And as of the night before, all of those times were gone. No more simple get-togethers, no more words of comfort, no more jokes, and no more pranks.

 **His sources of happiness were gone from this world. He was alone. Forever.**

 _"Well, I guess that you'll have to be resilient enough to accomplish all of those things for us."_

Tatsumi smiled as he remembered Ieyasu's final words. He knew that he mustn't give up hope. Everything that they had worked so hard up until now solely depended upon him. He wasn't going to disappoint his friends, not now, not ever.

Tatsumi shed a final tear before heading back towards the Capital. He still needed to accomplish their dreams of success.


	5. Friends and Foes (Pt 1)

**Chapter 5: Friends and Foes (Part I)**

"Boss, the boy is gone."

General Najenda was casually smoking a cigar as she listened to Mine's report. They were standing in the hallway that led to all of the bedrooms, beside a small arched window in the sandstone wall.

"What do we do about him?" Despite the possibility of their base having been spied upon, Mine didn't seem all too worried as she said this.

"Was he suspicious in any way?" Najenda asked in a formal tone.

"Well...I guess not. A few minutes after you left, he collapsed and only woke up late this afternoon in order to finish the graves. He left about an hour ago."

Najenda stared at Mine with her remaining purple eye, its partner eyepatch making her look even more powerful and audacious than any normal general of her stature. After a long intense silence, she turned her body towards the small opening, resting her gigantic metallic arm on its frame. She looked into the orange sunset as she crushed her cigar and released its particles into the wind.

"Do you have any ongoing missions?"

"No ma'am."

Najenda continued to stare blankly into the sky, making almost no sound as she lost herself in deep thought. There was a short pause before the general continued.

"If there is none, I would like you to shadow that boy and see what he is up to. Report all of your information back to me in five days' time. If he seems suspicious..." Najenda now raised her metallic arm up and clenched its fist before turning to face Mine, her face deadly serious.

 **"If he seems suspicious...you are free to kill him."**

After a long silence, Najenda lowered her arm and began to walk past a frozen Mine. "Dinner's ready," she said nonchalantly, any traces of their serious conversation having disappeared from her voice. "Akame's cooking beef stew tonight. I'm sure that you wouldn't want to miss it."

Mine just stood in the hallway, contemplating the implications of her next mission.

* * *

It was already night time once Tatsumi had reached the Capital. Everybody's doors were locked tight and nobody was walking out in the streets. Well, at least that was the case for the residential areas. The slums and the commercial areas always had people, but at least they weren't as crowded as they were during the day.

From the looks of it, Tatsumi would have to sleep on the streets. Again. That brought back bad memories.

Sitting under a lamp post, Tatsumi closed his eyes as he tried to sleep as peacefully as he possibly could. For somebody who had just slept a few hours before, he was exhausted due to all of the digging and walking that he had done within the past few days. He could also never forget the cold and painful dreams...

The dreams still bothered him, but the most recent one with his friends somehow gave him strength. Because of the dream, he believed that he had regained the resolve to continue to find a job in the Capital. He was originally thinking of becoming a soldier, but his pride ended up denying him access. As of a few days ago, he was thinking of becoming a blacksmith.

But then...Ieyasu wanted him to complete their plans; their original plans of fighting for the Capital and making enough money for their village. He was absolutely sure that Ieyasu wouldn't want him to become a blacksmith.

But if he couldn't join the army, what could he do? Appealing probably wouldn't work, but Tatsumi thought that it was at least worth trying. Anything was worth a shot if it was to honor his two friends.

Little by little, Tatsumi dozed off into his much awaited peaceful sleep.

* * *

Tatsumi suddenly woke up to the sound of scuffling coming from his sides. Opening his eyes, he found two middle-aged men searching through his pockets, their greedy faces snickering and giggling in delight. Acting upon instinct, Tatsumi reached for his sword and made a feint swing at the enemies in front of him. With the thieves being caught off guard, the false swipe still managed to cut one of their arms.

The two snatchers backed off, surprised by the suddenness of the young boy's movements. Scared, they began to flee into the city's dark alleyways, with Tatsumi persistently chasing them amidst the shadows. In Tatsumi's mind, he would have to knock down both of the criminals and get his things back before handing them over to the Imperial Police. He wanted these two to know that they messed with the wrong guy, but he didn't want to have to kill them. **Killing was always a last resort.**

As the criminals made a sharp turn into a broader road with fewer exits, Tatsumi sped up as he sprinted right behind them. Seeing no way to escape, one of them got out Tatsumi's golden pistol and took a shot at their pursuer. His panic got the best of him, however, distorting his aim and allowing Tatsumi to dodge the bullet effortlessly. Terrified by the boy's speed, the thief started to fire blindly, shattering a few lamps but never hitting his target.

It was because of how high speed their chase was that the two men accidentally crashed into a young teenage girl with auburn hair, sending her bread basket flying and her small dog-like creature into a frenzy. Before Tatsumi could reach them, the two men had picked the girl off the ground and pointed the gun directly at the side of her head.

"If you want this girl to live, you're gonna give us the money."

Tatsumi clenched his teeth as he held out his sword. The girl's dog was viciously growling at the snatchers, but it didn't seem to be able to help its master. Tatsumi didn't want to kill anybody, so what was he supposed to do? He could tell them the truth that he had no money, but they probably wouldn't believe him. He could rush towards the one with the gun and incapacitate him before charging at the other guy, but would he make it? Either him or the girl could get shot way before then, and doing it in reverse order wouldn't really change anything.

But he couldn't just risk a girl's life like that! **If he couldn't save this girl's life, then how was he supposed to save an entire village?!**

Before he could react, the girl, to everyone's surprise, pulled the gun away from her head and kicked both of the assailants in the stomach. The blunt force was enough to make the thieves keel over and puke onto the pavement.

The girl then pulled out two pairs of handcuffs and arrested both of the men. It was also then that Tatsumi noticed her sturdy metal chestplate and thin detached sleeves, causing him to flinch and gape at his own stupidity. **How had he never noticed that this girl was part of the Imperial Police Force!?**

"Two more thieves arrested! Isn't that great Coro?" The girl said this with some kind of contented delight, as if she were a girl who had just finished doing her fun-filled chores. Her shiny amber eyes complemented her childlike smile as she knelt down and petted her dog on its head. Well, it seemed to have the ears of a dog. Unlike other dogs, this girl's pet was walking on its two hind legs, had no fur, and made a "kyew" sound instead of barking. On second thought, Tatsumi wasn't so sure if it was a dog anymore. He didn't really give it much thought though, as he was still pretty shocked by what he had just witnessed.

Noticing the boy's surprised look, the young officer stood up and looked directly at Tatsumi. Her face beamed with warmth and happinness.

"Are you alright? Did they hurt you? Do you need any help?" The cute girl surveyed Tatsumi intently, checking every nook and cranny of his _entire_ body.

"Uh-uhh-nooo?" Tatsumi started to get awfully flustered as she began to take off different articles of his clothing, starting off by lifting up his shirt. His face turned beet red as he started to blush.

The girl smiled and giggled as she finished her inspection. Picking up Tatsumi's gun off one of the snatchers, she handed it back to its rightful owner. "I think this belongs to you."

"Ahh-thanks." Tatsumi quickly picked up the pistol and examined its contents. It only had one bullet left, but that was okay since he could just refill it with the bullets in his ba-

Oh, that's right! He had no bag!

Tatsumi grunted as he placed the gun back in its holster. Why did he have to leave his bag?!

"Uhhh...Are you alright?" the girl asked politely. "Was it something that I said?"

"What?! No of course not! It's just..." Tatsumi sighed. "Would you like some help with your bread basket?"

"Oh..." Both of them turned to look at the scattered loafs of bread that were spread across the cobblestone road. "Yeah...that would be great!"

* * *

After returning all of the scattered items to their rightful owners, the two looked at each other. The girl then politely smiled at Tatsumi, giving him the opportunity to timidly smile back.

"So...do you have anywhere to sleep?" The girl asked, her voice brimming with energy.

Tatsumi scratched the back of his head. "Not really. Actually, no, I don't."

"Then why don't you come over and sleep at my place?"

Tatsumi was shocked by the girl's kind offer. "Me, staying at this girl's place?! How old is she?! Is she really that kind?! What should I do?!"

Tatsumi remembered what had happened with Aria however and came to ask the question: "Can this girl be trusted?" Aria was also a kind girl, but her innocent looks betrayed him in the end. What about this girl? Was she any different?

"Well," Tatsumi thought to himself, "for one thing, this girl ain't rich. Another thing, she's Imperial Police! Even if she did try to do something illegal (which was highly unlikely), the police would be able to track her down easily, right?"

This reasoning was enough for the naive Tatsumi, who tried to suppress a slight grin. "Yeah. Sure. Why not?"

"Yay!" The girl hugged Tatsumi, wrapping herself around his arms. Tatsumi blushed once again, his head feeling like it was going to melt. Meanwhile, the girl's dog started to "kyew" angrily at the two.

"By the way," Tatsumi added, "what about the two robbers?"

"Ah, the others will take care of them." The girl then pulled out what looked like a dog whistle and blew it as hard as she could. Tatsumi assumed that it was to summon the other police members.

"Today's my day off you see, so it's okay if I let the others handle it."

"Day...off?" Tatsumi was confused by the girl's last statement. If she really was on her day off, then how come she was still wearing her uniform?

The officer then held out her right hand, gesturing for a handshake. "Seryu Ubiquitous of the Imperial Police."

"Tatsumi Yukimura of the Yukimura Village." Tatsumi shook hands with Seryu, his bigger palms encompassing hers. He couldn't sense any ambiguity in her greeting, unlike that time when he had met Aria. He somehow trusted this girl more.

Without warning, Seryu pulled Tatsumi's arm towards her as she began to run off towards the end of the street. For the entire journey, her little "dog" angrily watched Tatsumi, as if it saw Tatsumi as some kind of threat. Coro, as Seryu called him, was smaller than any dog Tatsumi had ever seen before. Although he didn't look that dangerous (and might have even been considered cute by Tatsumi), Tatsumi wasn't so sure if he was completely defenseless.

"Hey, Seryu?" Tatsumi asked abruptly in the middle of their run. "What kind of dog do you own?"

"Oh, this little 'fella? This ain't no ordinary pet! This here is Hekatonkheires, my personal Imperial Arm of justice! I like to call him Coro."

"Imperial...Arm..." Tatsumi didn't know what she was talking about.

"Oh? You don't know? Well, I guess that you are from the province. I mean, look at your clothes!"

Tatsumi snorted at the remark. "Look who's talking. If it's your day off, then how come you're dressed like that?!" Tatsumi didn't have the courage to say this out loud though.

"I'll explain all of it to you tomorrow. Say, when did you get here?"

"A few days ago, I think."

"Oh, that's great! That means that I can show you around the Capital tomorrow! Tomorrow is a holiday."

Seryu's giggling reminded Tatsumi that she was only a teenage girl, probably even a few years younger than him. Her long ponytail and petite stature really did emphasize this fact.

"Wait...If she's younger than me and she is already part of the Imperial Police, could I easily get accepted if I applied?"

But Tatsumi couldn't think about that at the moment. They had arrived at Seryu's small and humble abode, and Tatsumi was ready to retire for the night.

* * *

Mine breathed a sigh of relief as Tatsumi and Seryu entered the stone house. She had been watching Tatsumi ever since he had fallen asleep on the road, and was on the lookout even when he was threatened by the snatchers. She was tempted to help him, but she was able to get to her senses before then. She didn't want to reveal herself to her target and other random strangers, now would she?

Something still bothered Mine though: not only was Tatsumi's "new friend" part of the Imperial Police, but she was also equipped with an Imperial Arm. That was very valuable information that she needed to tell the Boss as early as possible, but she knew that she couldn't just abandon her mission. Even though the boy seemed completely innocent, she still wasn't a hundred percent certain that he wasn't an Imperial spy. Looks can be deceiving after all.

She still had four more days to shadow him before returning back to camp though, so there really was no need to rush things.

At the very least, she could "blend in" while spying on him.

Mine smiled. "This mission is gonna be a piece of cake."


	6. Friends and Foes (Pt 2)

**Chapter 6: Friends and Foes (Part II)**

"So this is what life in the Capital is like," Tatsumi thought to himself. It seemed so... carefree.

After Tatsumi had finished eating Seryu's homemade breakfast (and frankly one of the best breakfasts of his entire life), they immediately went out to tour the city. Tatsumi still wasn't accustomed to the amount of people in the streets, especially so since it was a holiday. It seemed as if the entire country had gone window shopping.

Amidst the happiness however, Tatsumi also sensed dread. While there may have been a lot of people who were cheerfully chatting away with their friends, there were also those who roamed the streets alone with a depressed look upon their face. While there may have been a lot of wealthily dressed people, there was also quite a number of people who were wearing ragged clothes that were too big for their malnourished bodies. Though living in the Capital had always been Ieyasu's lifelong dream, Tatsumi wasn't sure if the city's living standards were as great as the three of them had imagined.

With that being said though, Seryu was different, in the sense that she was in a group of her own. From Tatsumi's point of view, there were two main groups of people living in the Capital: the extremely wealthy and the impoverished. Seryu was somewhere in between. Though she was able to eat hearty meals and could actually afford to go window shopping, she was thrifty and always thought about her savings and daily expenses. One of the reasons why she always wore her armor (aside from being "cautious") was because she thought that she didn't need to spend for garish clothing ("As long as it fits," she said). Her lifestyle was also very simple and always followed the same routine: wake up early, cook a simple egg or ham and buttered bread breakfast, go to work, buy food for dinner, eat dinner and go to sleep. At least that is what he heard from Seryu.

Tatsumi also heard that her living space was one of the many perks that came with being part of the Imperial Police. Since she was also an orphan, Seryu would also get a weekly allowance from her boss Captain Ogre. According to Seryu, Ogre was a kind man who took her in when her father died whilst fighting revolutionaries in the West. Ever since then, he has raised her as his own and trained her in various fighting styles and combat methods, eventually leading to her inauguration as an Imperial Police member two years before. This information impressed Tatsumi a lot, especially when he found out that she was just sixteen years old, one year younger than Tatsumi.

As they strolled down the streets, Seryu pointed out to Tatsumi the Emperor's palace. Towering over the entire Capital, the palace was said to house to Emperor, the one who was said to have the power to change everybody's lives in an instant. According to Seryu, since the Emperor was only a boy, he had to be guided by Prime Minister Onesto so that he would be able to make the right decisions. "Don't worry!" Seryu said. "The Emperor always makes the just decisions because of the Prime Minister. That's why the Empire is still flourishing up 'till this day!"

This opinion didn't exactly resonate well with Tatsumi. From his point of view, the Empire wasn't exactly "flourishing."

After a while, Seryu also asked Tatsumi about his personal history. After hearing about his situation, Seryu was close to breaking down in tears. Though she was tougher than most men, she was so fragile and immature and got emotional very easily. After she was able to control herself, she hugged Tatsumi warmly. "I'm sorry for your loss," Seryu said. "If you want, you can stay over at my place for as long as you want!"

He was thankful towards Seryu for being so hospitable towards him. Who knows what could happen if he had to sleep on the streets again that night? Though it was embarrassing to accept her offer, Tatsumi knew that he had no other choice; if he wanted to live in the Capital, he needed a place to stay. As of the moment, the only place that was available was Seryu's.

Tatsumi also found it weird how he was able to trust Seryu so easily. Though they had only just met, they were casually talking as if they had been lifelong friends. Of course nobody could replace Sayo and Ieyasu, but Seryu was already pretty close to him in a surprisingly short amount of time.

She was technically Tatsumi's first friend in the Capital.

After a few hours of touring the side streets (which Tatsumi marked off on his new map given to him by Seryu), the two came to one of the main plazas. There they sat down and took a break as they ate gelato whilst observing the bustling amount of people in the streets. Seryu's "Imperial Arm" Coro was given huge slobs of meat, all of which he finished in one gulp. Coro's appetite scared Tatsumi, but always seemed to make Seryu laugh.

After a few minutes of small talk, Tatsumi knew that he had to ask the question. If he didn't, he might not be able to get the same opportunity ever again.

"Hey, Seryu?" Tatsumi asked, "Is the Imperial Police accepting new applicants as of the moment?"

"Well, let's see..." Seryu stopped eating and began to think. "Actually, Captain Ogre is looking for new recruits who could carry out patrol missions. He needs them to be skilled and talented though, so he only accepts those who pass his physical and endurance tests."

"Do you think that I could join?"

Seryu stared at Tatsumi, shocked by the abruptness of the question. "Uhhhh...yeah! I guess. You'll have to speak to Captain Ogre about that though. Unfortunately, since today's a holiday, you'll have to wait 'till tomorrow."

Tatsumi smiled. This is what Ieyasu was referring to when he entrusted his dreams of fighting crime to Tatsumi. If he couldn't fight on the international border, he could at least fight the injustice within the Capital.

Seryu suddenly stood up from her seat and walking towards Tatsumi, locked him in a tight embrace. "I'm so happy to have met somebody who has the same burning zeal for justice as me, Tatsumi."

Tatsumi smiled. He liked it when he saw Seryu smile; it was always so warm and loving, just like how Sayo would smile after Ieyasu made a fool of himself.

Coro broke into a fervid rage as soon as he saw the two hug. For some unknown reason, he was very disapproving of Tatsumi and Seryu's friendly relationship.

When the two got back to their seats, Tatsumi looked down at Coro, who was violently trying to escape from his leash as he continued to make fervent sounds at Tatsumi. Speaking of Coro...

"Actually Seryu, you never got to explain to me what an Imperial Arm was."

"Oh yeah, right." Seryu finished the last scoop of her gelato before wiping her mouth and beginning her story.

"About a thousand years ago, after the Empire was created, the king began to worry about his legacy. In order to protect that legacy and the kingdom for all eternity, he gathered rare materials from the most dangerous of Danger Beasts and called upon the world's most talented scientists and forgers to create 48 deadly weapons that we now call Imperial Arms. This was only possible of course, due to his limitless power and fortune, which even the current Emperor cannot attain. However, because of the civil war that broke out five-hundred years ago, a lot of these Imperial Arms are now lost."

"So... your dog is a weapon of mass destruction?"

"Well, something like that. When the Imperial Army found Coro, most of the higher ranking officials weren't compatible with the beast. As such, they ended up giving handing him over to the Imperial Police. When most of them still weren't compatible, they ended up giving him to me."

"Compatible?" Tatsumi was a bit confused. "You need to be compatible in order to use an Imperial Arm?"

"Well, of course you have to be compatible! Otherwise, it wouldn't work the way you would want it to. Coro right here responded to my sense of justice and follows me wherever I go, which is why people deemed us compatible."

"Well," Tatsumi asked, "what happened to the other "incompatible" members of the army?"

Seryu was "too distracted" to answer Tatsumi's question however as she started to play with her "pet."

Tatsumi stared at the cute "dog" who was now happily clinging onto Seryu's leg. Who knew that that dog was a human-killing machine?! Now Tatsumi had an actual excuse to be afraid of him.

Seryu noticed the tension in Tatsumi's face as he stared at Coro and thus began to laugh. "Oh, it's okay. Coro only eats evil doers! Isn't that right, Coro-chan?" Seryu began to tickle Coro's belly, causing him to "kyew" in delight.

Tatsumi gulped as his face turned pale. "Wait...did she say eat?! That dog eats people?!" Who knew that a dog of that size was so dangerous!

After a minute or so, Tatsumi thought of a follow-up question: "Who else has Imperial Arms?"

Upon hearing this, Seryu stiffened up and brought Coro back down. She then began to clench her fists, as if agitated by an unforgettable memory.

"Aside from me," Seryu explained, her face now suddenly cold, "there are other people in the Capital who wield such weapons, two of the most notable ones being General Esdeath and Grand General Budou. However, there are also people like... them." As she said this, she pointed towards a brick wall which had pieces of parchment attached to it. As Tatsumi began to approach this wall, he soon realized that these pieces of paper were actually wanted posters for those who went against the government. Seryu then came over and pointed out four specific ones, all of which had big black and bold labels that read out two words: Night Raid.

"The Night Raid" Seryu elaborated, "are a band of mercenaries who assassinate certain targets at night. They are in cahoots with the Revolutionary Army, an organization determined to bring down the 1000 year-long Empire. As such, they usually attack those who are wealthy and who have powerful influence over political affairs. During their free time however..."

Seryu fell into a deadly silence. She then lowered her head, making Tatsumi unable to see her expression clearly. She did however, seem to be radiating a zealous and hateful aura.

After a long silence, Seryu looked back at Tatsumi. Unlike before, her smile was now a grim frown and had lost the warmth that it so often had.

"If you ever meet them," she said emotionlessly, "flee and call for help. They kill anyone on sight."

Tatsumi wondered what the Night Raid had done to make Seryu this angry towards them. Okay, fine, trying to overthrow the government seemed like a pretty evil thing to do, but it isn't enough of a reason to make somebody furious or anything, right? Did Seryu have a personal vendetta against the Night Raid?

"My father..." Seryu became solemn and softened her voice to a near whisper. "He died in the West fighting the Revolutionary Army. He was trying to protect an important civil officer who was in charge of financial distribution throughout the provinces. His safety was supposedly secured since the entire Revolutionary Army didn't have enough manpower at that time in order to penetrate the officer's defenses. That was until they discovered a mole."

"One of the members of the Revolutionary Army had an Imperial Arm called the Gaia Fountain, a cosmetic tool which allowed its user to disguise himself and become anybody. With it, the user was basically undetectable in enemy lines. The only one who was able to catch the culprit...was my father."

Seryu stopped explaining in order to take a deep breath. Tatsumi sighed. He finally understood Seryu's situation and her personal conflict with the Revolutionary Army. Based on Seryu's previous descriptions, she seemed to be very close to her dad. Losing somebody like that would obviously trigger some sort of anger and even a sense of vengeance towards the perpetrators.

Tatsumi knew and understood that feeling.

Seryu continued, her voice cracking with every word that she spoke. "When the official was murdered, my dad tried to stop the assassin. In his last moments, he said that the reason why he couldn't kill the assassin wasn't because she was skilled, but because she morphed into the shape of somebody close to him. According to reports, the assassin morphed into... me."

Seryu looked up into the blue sky, a teardrop falling from her cheek. She put her hands to her face and began to cry. Tatsumi felt sorry for the girl. It was bad enough to have her father killed, but getting killed by somebody who looked exactly like his daughter? That added a ton of insult to injury.

Not knowing what to do, Tatsumi put his arm around Seryu. After a few seconds, he decided to hug her. He understood how it felt to lose people close to you; not only did he lose his parents, but he also lost his best friends. He also knew how it felt to lose somebody and not have anyone to confide in. He didn't want Seryu to ever feel that way again.

"At least now, I have Captain Ogre. He is really kind, almost as kind as my father. He would always come over and ask me how I was doing and would be worried for me whenever I fought a dangerous criminal. I love him as much as I loved my father."

Tatsumi smiled. "Captain Ogre doesn't seem all that bad," Tatsumi thought to himself. He cares for Seryu as if they were family.

Tatsumi stared back at the posters in order to get a good look at their faces. The one that read "Najenda" had a girl with a short boy cut and wore a suit that revealed a bit of cleavage. She also seemed to have a metallic right arm. Another one labeled "Sheele" had a long-haired spectacled girl with a sleeveless third one had the name "Bulat" and showed a spiky-haired man in his late twenties with extremely muscular arms.

What caught Tatsumi's attention however, was the poster that was located in the middle of the bunch. Labeled "Akame", it showed a teenage girl who was probably a bit older than Tatsumi. She was wearing a sleeveless miniskirt which was covered by her long black hair. Although the poster had no color, Tatsumi knew that the girl had bright red eyes that.

Why did he feel like he had seen this girl before? She seemed important somehow, but he couldn't exactly pinpoint what exactly she did to leave an imprint on Tatsumi. He remembered that she wielded a katana, that her miniskirt had a white collar and red tie, that she was there...

Tatsumi gasped. He knew that he had seen this girl before; they had met at the mansion the night that Sayo and Ieyasu were murdered! Everything made sense now: why she called Aria and her family "targets" and why she was even there in the first place.

 **Akame was an actual Night Raid assassin.**

There was only one problem with this: if she really was part of the Night Raid, a merciless assassination group...

 **Why did she spare him?**

"You know them?" Seryu had stopped crying and was now looking intently at Tatsumi's grim face.

Tatsumi looked at Seryu. "Ah...no, they just look familiar."

Seryu head faced the ground. There were a few moments of silence before she spoke up again.

"Tatsumi..." Seryu suddenly grabbed Tatsumi's shoulders and turned him towards her. She wanted him to remember what she was about to tell him. "No matter what you think, those assassins are cold-blooded killers. They have no heart and kill without remorse. **They are the embodiment of pure evil**."

Silence reigned for a few moments as Tatsumi looked back at Seryu's serious face. The atmosphere suddenly became much more intense.

"By trying to bring down the Empire, they will spell the end for all of us. As part of the Imperial Police, it is my job to stop that from ever happening. As a member of the Empire, it is your job to support us."

"I am not sure how good you are with that sword, but please promise me that no matter what happens, you will never use it for evil purposes. The girl Akame that you see there, she used to be the top assassin working for the Empire. That was until one of our ex-generals, General Najenda, convinced her to join the Night Raid. As of now, she is a weapon of mass destruction."

"If you are truly a man of justice, you will use that sword in order to serve the retribution that the Night Raid deserves. If you ever see them, I suggest that you flee, but only if you don't have the skill and power to take them down. If you do, it is your responsibility to destroy them at all costs."

Seryu's grip grew tighter and tighter, straining Tatsumi's shoulders. "Training day and night to defeat the evil, that is the role of anyone who wants justice to rule the world."

Tatsumi was surprised by Seryu's utter determination to destroy the Night Raid. He was even more surprised by how Seryu was making him promise her these things. For him, that meant that she trusted him enough, maybe even more than he trusted her. That also filled him with determination.

"Promise?" Seryu's eyes suddenly switched from determination to loving care. "She's doing this because she wants people to get what they truly deserve," Tatsumi thought. "This girl really is caring and righteous."

At that moment, Tatsumi came to respect the girl for her resolve to end all evil. Though it may have seemed to be a naive goal, with Seryu's willpower, anything seemed possible.

Tatsumi smiled. "I promise."

Seryu's smile melted Tatsumi's heart before she held him in a tight embrace. "Though we have only met, she cares for me and loves me so much as a friend. She has given me so much hope and resolve and has given me a goal which I can aim for in the near future. I guess that I have to return the favor by being there for her, just like how she was there for me."

Tatsumi looked up to the sky and smiled. A teardrop fell from the corner of his eye. "Thank you, Sayo and Ieyasu," he whispered, "for giving me a new friend."

The drama of the two did not escape the eyes of the pink-haired girl in twin tails who was sitting by the fountain in the center of the plaza. Mine was busy eating ice cream when she heard the accusations of Seryu against the Night Raid and saw how determined she was to utterly destroy the revolution. More importantly though, she also saw how easily the boy name Tatsumi fell for her sweet and luring words.

"Idiot." Mine said to herself bitterly as she finished up the rest of her ice cream. The two had just finished hugging and were now laughing their mouths off as they walked out of the city square. "Why would you fall for something like that so easily? Country bumpkins."

Mine spat before she stood up and began to shadow them once again. She hated how easily that girl convinced Tatsumi that those who were part of the Night Raid were pure evil, that they had no remorse for what they were doing. Of course they had remorse! Leone just got... carried away sometimes. Mine shivered at the fact that what the girl had just said may actually hold some water on certain occasions. But pure evil? Hell no! They were doing this so that everyone could live better lives. If anything, they were the good guys!

She did have to remember though that what they did wasn't justified per say. No matter what, they were still committing murder, and that meant that they could receive the appropriate punishment at any given moment as a form of retribution. Everyone in the Night Raid knew about the consequences of their actions, but they still fought on because of their hope in a brighter future, a future where dictators didn't rule and corruption didn't destroy lives. A future that is truly righteous and fair and where tragedy didn't have to happen as often as it did.

"Evil..." Mine sighed. That is a common misconception about the Night Raid. Like other people, they assassins did once have lives. All they were doing was trying to take back the control over their lives that they deserved to have in the first place. The same went for everybody else in the Revolutionary Army.

Mine snapped out of her trance; she had to stay focused on her mission. There was nothing she could do about all of this bothering her, except reporting it back to the Boss after the five-day period.

Besides, it wasn't all true. She didn't know of anybody who wielded something called the "Gaia Fountain", meaning that the girl was just making some of the details up herself. Though she seemed innocent, Mine could sense all of the anger radiating from within her and saw just a tiny glimpse of how much that girl wanted to kill everyone for whom she blamed for her father's death. That girl, with the right amount of power, could become a deadly threat to the revolution.

"Well, this is bo-ring." Mine began to scan the stores from afar. This was going to be one long night.


	7. Friends and Foes (Pt 3)

**Chapter 7: Friends and Foes (Part III)**

Though they had practically spent the entire day talking to each other, both of them didn't seem to get bored. They had already come to acknowledge that in such a short amount of time, they had come to enjoy each other's company.

Tatsumi and Seryu talked and laughed even after the sun had gone down. The night had already fallen upon the bustling streets, meaning that most of the people were supposed to be in their homes. Being a holiday however, the residential areas were deserted while the commercial sectors were absolutely jam-packed. Even during the day, Tatsumi had never seen so many people concentrated in the same areas. This caused him to admire the Capital even more.

"So. Many. People!" Tatsumi gaped as he watched the crowds enter and exit shops and look at the latest products from extremely high-end stores. Tatsumi knew of course that he couldn't afford anything, but seeing people run around the place buying unnecessarily expensive items made Tatsumi envious. "If only I had the money," Tatsumi thought, "then I didn't have to worry about anything anymore!"

Seryu smiled as she watched Tatsumi observe everything that was going on. Being from the province, Tatsumi would naturally be amazed by how busy and fast-paced the life in the Capital truly was. Seryu knew that feeling, the same feeling that she felt when she came to the Capital for the first time in order to meet her father's good friend, Captain Ogre. She was only eight years old at that time, and this being the first long road trip that she had with her father...

Seryu winced. How come she was thinking about her father during a holiday while going out with her new friend? Sure, she wanted Tatsumi to know the true evil behind the revolution, but that didn't mean that she had to spoil his fun.

"Hey Seryu," Tatsumi asked, "are you alright?"

"Huh?" Seryu was surprised that Tatsumi was able to notice her grim look. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Seryu..." Tatsumi was now staring at Seryu. His green eyes locked onto Seryu's small face as he smiled. Seryu liked Tatsumi's smile; it was always so genuine.

It took Seryu a few moments to realize that her cheeks were bright red. She quickly turned a way and covered her face with her hands.

"Hey, Seryu," Tatsumi said, "if there is anything that is bothering you, I can try to help."

Seryu looked back at Tatsumi. Her fair skin seemed to be radiating in the moonlight as she tried to look at Tatsumi straight on without flinching.

"Oh, it's nothing." Seryu's face started to show how embarrassed she was.

"Seryu..." Tatsumi suddenly grabbed onto Seryu's shoulders like she did to him earlier that day. His face showed determination.

"I promise you Seryu," Tatsumi said boldly, "I will never join those rebels, no matter what!"

Seryu was shocked by Tatsumi's statement. She wasn't expecting anything like that from him as of the moment and was pretty surprised by the strength of Tatsumi's resolve (even if they had just made the promise that afternoon). Seryu grinned; she was comforted by the thought that her newfound friend wasn't going to succumb to the nefarious forces of evil. She couldn't risk losing another warm and happy friend. Not again. Not again...

Seryu could now straight into Tatsumi's green eyes. "Thank you Tatsumi, thank you."

Tatsumi smiled. After a short while, he removed his hands from Seryu's shoulders and began to laugh. Seryu laughed along with him. She wasn't so sure what he was laughing about; he was probably still amazed at the beauty of the Capital, the same Capital that the Night Raid...

"Stop it Seryu! You're hanging out with someone who legitimately likes you! Stop..."

"Wait..."likes" you? In a friendly way right?"

"Hey Tatsumi." Seryu began to shiver vigorously.

"Yeah?" Tatsumi looked back at Seryu. This made Seryu even more nervous.

"Tatsumi... I know that it has just been a day, but...do you...like me?"

Silence reigned for a few moments as they both stared at each other. Finally, Tatsumi spoke up.

"Well, of course I like you Seryu!" Tatsumi exclaimed enthusiastically. "You gave me a home here in the Capital. Who knows where I could've been right now if it weren't for your hospitality?"

Seryu let out a sigh of relief. Thank goodness it was in a friendly way! If Tatsumi actually loved her, then things would get really complicated; as complicated as the relationship between that friend of her's...

Seryu winced. Why are you thinking about "him" now?! It's been years since then! He turned evil, and there's nothing you can do about it!

Seryu sighed. She needed to tell Tatsumi. If not, it would just eat her up inside.

"Hey, Tatsumi," Seryu said as she began to twist her fingers. "There's something that I need to tell you."

Tatsumi focused his stare upon Seryu's small face once again. "I'm listening."

"The reason why I'm so paranoid about you turning evil is because...because..."

"Yeah?" Tatsumi's stare started to pressure Seryu even more.

"Because I had a friend just like you: always smiling and would be there for me when I needed him." Seryu had to take a deep breath before continuing. This was really hard for her say, but she knew that he had to know. He had every right to know.

"Being from different backgrounds, we would sometimes have a hard time understanding each other; he was much richer than I was and could get whatever he wanted. Just like you however, he had a kind heart and a warm smile. That was until one day..."love" took over his heart and persuaded him to join the Revolutionary Army. I never got to see him again."

Tatsumi didn't know what to say. This was a very awkward situation to be in, and he wasn't exactly used to talking to girls, let alone helping them with their deep life problems. All he ever did for Sayo was be there for her, the only exception being the day that she died.

Tatsumi sighed. All of the good memories began to flow back into his consciousness. All of the times...

Tatsumi felt like crying, but he knew that he had to stay strong for Seryu. He had to be there for his friend.

"Seryu..." Tatsumi hugged Seryu as tightly as he possibly could. He didn't know what else to do, and thus felt extremely uncomfortable about it. Meanwhile, Seryu was shocked and didn't know what was going on. What was she supposed to do?

"Don't worry Seryu, I'll be there for you in your time of need."

Seryu's heart melted as she heard Tatsumi's second promise that night. She could hold the tears in no more.

She cried on Tatsumi's shoulders until she was satisfied before finally wiping off the final tear streaks on her face. Letting go of Tatsumi, she smiled at him and winked. Tatsumi got confused and began blushed, causing Seryu to giggle. Tatsumi blushed even more.

"Uhhhhh...Can we get going? We're blocking the middle of the street."

Seryu frowned. "KJ!"

"KJ?! What did I do?!"

"You ruined the moment!" Seryu replied jokingly as she stuck her tongue out.

Both of them laughed before exploring the entirety of the lively road.

 **A few hours later...**

Tatsumi and Seryu were headed back home. They had just finished eating dinner and were absolutely famished. They were also sleepy. Really sleepy.

While they were exploring the shops, Seryu was kind enough to buy Tatsumi more bullets for his pistol. As a "thank you" gift, she even got him this multi-tool which he could use to pick locks and even fix different types of machinery. It was called the "Imperial Army Knife."

Tatsumi couldn't stop thanking Seryu for the rest of the evening, although he knew that he could never pay her back without money. He would have to apply for a position in the Imperial Police as soon as he got the chance.

On their way back, there weren't as many people roaming the open streets. Seryu decided to take a much darker shortcut however, the reason being beyond Tatsumi's knowledge. During the night, badly-lit roads in the Capital became very ominous and creepy.

All of the shops that surrounded the street were closed and had very few people, all except one. The pub was the only well-lit side of the street and was still filled with people even at this late hour.

Though most of them were drinking inside of the said pub, there was one man who was seated outside, drinking all by himself. The man was staggeringly tall and buff, bigger than anybody Tatsumi had ever seen. His spiky black hair stood up, intensified even further by the white streaks that grew from his temples towards the middle of his hair.

As the two of them slowly approached the pub, Tatsumi began to move slower and slower. He was able to sense an uninviting aura that surrounded and embodied the man who they were slowly approaching. Seryu didn't flinch at all and just continued to walk forward.

"Uhhhh...Seryu?" Tatsumi was starting to get scared. "Can we take another route?"

Seryu looked back to find Tatsumi stuck to where he stood. "But this way is much faster!"

"I don't know Seryu. I'm getting a bad vibe around this place."

"Don't worry," Seryu replied, "I always take this route. Besides, my house is just right around that corner over there."

Tatsumi shivered. They had to walk past the pub in order to get to her place, meaning that they had to walk past the mysterious man, and Tatsumi definitely did not want to find out how he really looked like under the mask of the street's dark shadows.

His ambiguity also begged the question: What was he doing here?

As they began to walk past the bar, the man slowly turned his head towards them. From afar, he looked menacing; from up close, he was absolutely terrifying. Aside from his two humongous arms, his small round table was also occupied by a beer mug that seemed to be larger than life. With the light emanating from behind the man, his face couldn't be seen clearly, all except for a red glowing right eye. His left eye was nowhere to be found.

Before they could get past the building, the large man stood up. He seemed to be three times the size of Tatsumi and his biceps were the size of beer kegs.

He started to walk towards the two teens.

Both Tatsumi and Seryu stopped dead in their tracks. Tatsumi was petrified, not knowing what was going to happen next. Looking at his partner however, he saw that she was calm and seemed to be getting ready for battle. Perhaps he should be doing the same.

Before the huge figure could reach out his hand and touch either one of them, Tatsumi turned around and kicked the man in the stomach. Before the man could react, Tatsumi had placed a sword at his throat.

"What do you want with us?!" Tatsumi shouted at the man. After a few seconds of silence however, the man started to laugh. After a while, his laugh grew louder and louder, to the point that he even started to cough.

Meanwhile, Seryu was shocked at what Tatsumi had done and gaped at him. After putting both of her hands to the sides of her head, she ran over and pushed Tatsumi away from the man.

"What do you think you're-"

Before Tatsumi could react, Seryu slapped his right cheek. She hit him so hard that it left a big bruise.

"You idiot," Seryu exclaimed, "why did you attack Captain Ogre?!"

"Captain...Ogre?"

Captain Ogre was now dusting off the dirt from his pants. Like Seryu, Tatsumi now saw that he too was wearing the signature upper body armor of the Imperial Police. His long white khaki pants seemed to be custom made in order to fit his humongous legs, and his gray boots made him look even more like a tank.

With the light now shining upon his face, Tatsumi could now see the reason why only one of his eyes glowed red. The other one was replaced by a cross-shaped scar.

Tatsumi gulped. Realizing his mistake, he kneeled down and started to gravel at the man's feet.

"I'm so sorry sir," Tatsumi cried, "I didn't realize who you were. Please don't send me to prison!"

Captain Ogre didn't get mad however. Instead, he began to laugh with his deep monster-like voice. Tatsumi now saw why he was named "Ogre."

"It's okay Tatsumi," Seryu said, "Captain only puts evil people in jail."

Ogre then kneeled down and pulled Tatsumi back up to his feet. Placing his face close to Tatsumi's, he smiled. Seeing the man smile made Tatsumi feel safer already.

"Seryu..." Ogre stood up and turned his attention towards the auburn-haired girl. "Would you mind introducing me to this boyfriend of your's"

Seryu blushed. "Sir! This boy ain't my "boyfriend!" He's just someone who I met last night."

"Last night?!" Ogre was shocked. "You two just met last night and you are already taking him to your place?! Don't you know how unsafe that is?!"

"S-Sir!" At this point, Seryu's face was red with embarrassment. "Tatsumi is a friendly boy from the countryside. Besides, if I hadn't rescued him, he would've been left all alone and would have had to sleep in the streets."

"Oh, is that so..." Ogre then turned around and started to glare at Tatsumi. Tatsumi felt paralyzed as Ogre's eye started to pierce into his very soul. He wanted to faint right on the spot.

"Well, if Seryu trusts you, then I guess that I should too." Ogre then turned towards Seryu once again. "You are sixteen after all; I have no right to decide who gets to be your friend, not like seven years ago."

Seryu smiled. "Sir..."

Ogre smiled back at her. After a short silence, both of them hugged each other. All that Tatsumi could do was stand there and stare at their warm embrace, an embrace which reminded him of his own parents. Who thought that that man was actually a really caring foster father in disguise? "It just goes to show you," Tatsumi thought, "you can't judge a book by its cover."

After about a minute or so, the two broke it up and Captain Ogre knelt down and put his gargantuan arms on Seryu's small shoulders. "Is there anything that you need? Just say it right now before you go home."

"No sir." Seryu was still smiling.

Ogre hugged Seryu one last time before standing up. "Well, if there's anything that you need, I'll be here all night."

"Yes sir!" Seryu made a salute with her tiny right hand, something which seemed oddly charming and cute at the same time. Her gesture was answered by Ogre and his big scarred hand. The two smiled at each other once again.

Before they left, Seryu turned around one last time. "Actually sir, Tatsumi wants to apply for the Imperial Police."

Tatsumi's face reddened out of embarrassment. Why did she have to ask him?!

Ogre turned around and glared directly at Tatsumi. Tatsumi gulped once again and started to sweat pails of water. "Why Seryu?! Why?!"

Ogre approached Tatsumi, trying to intimidate him with his massive stature. His red eye seemed to be scanning him for possible weaknesses.

"You'll have to go through the normal registration boy. Registration is from Mondays to Fridays, meaning that you can try tomorrow. Three days after you sign up, we will send you a personal invite to a sample training session. If you can't pass you can't join. Is that clear?"

"Y-y-y-yes sir!" Tatsumi was terrified.

"Good." Ogre turned and started to walk back towards his table. He then sat down, only to realize that his mug was empty. As he was going to enter the bar, Ogre turned around one last time.

"Oh, Seryu?"

"Yes sir?"

"Good night." And with that, the Imperial Police Captain disappeared from sight.

Akame's black cloak hung over her pale skin as she stood in the shadows of the thin dark alleyway. Nobody would be able to notice her since no one passed through that alleyway and the road it connected to at night.

She was patiently biding for the right moment to strike down her target.

On the way there, she had already spotted and had talked to Mine. According to Mine, she too was on a mission. Mine's mission however, was to watch a certain brown-haired boy with green eyes as he might have discovered the location of their hideout. Although it didn't seem likely, Boss wanted to be absolutely certain.

Akame's suspicions of who the boy actually was were confirmed when she saw the said boy walking down the road with an auburn-haired girl. No doubt it was the same boy that she had met in the mansion, the only question was what he was doing there at this time of night. Based on her uniform, Akame could tell that the girl was a patrol officer of the Imperial Police, which made Akame wonder if the boy was actually an Imperial Police Spy. "That can't be." Akame thought. He seemed too lax to be on a mission.

Before Akame could speculate even further however, a man stood up from his tale outside of the pub that they were walking past. Akame's eyes sharpened and focused onto the strange person, who she was able to confirm as Captain Ogre. According to the briefing, Captain Ogre was responsible for the framing of countless people, including their client's husband. His powerful position in the Imperial Police was also the perfect backup for his job in the underworld and he would do it for anybody for the right amount of money.

As far as her mission was concerned, that man was her target.

After a very long (and awkward) conversation between the three, the boy and the girl started to leave the scene. They seemed to be walking towards the residential area, probably towards the girl's home (or at least that was what Akame speculated, since the boy couldn't have gotten a house that quickly). Based on what Akame was seeing and hearing, the two had gotten along pretty well. It was a relief to see that the boy had gotten a new friend so quickly after the death of his other two.

She had also heard however, that he was thinking of becoming a part of the Imperial Police. That worried her a lot; she would have no choice but to kill him if he would resurface as her enemy later on.

Suddenly, the boy stopped and turned towards the dark alley where she was hiding. Akame quickly moved deeper into the shadows.

After a few moments of silence, she heard the two teens talking.

"What's wrong Tatsumi?"

"Nothing. I just thought that someone was watching us."

Footsteps began to echo across the cobble street as the two completely disappeared from view. Akame sighed; she was worried that the boy had found her out. He probably was able to sense her presence, thus making him no ordinary boy. "He must have had some training," she thought as she tried to hide herself even more. She would have to be more careful.

That wasn't important anymore though. What mattered now was her target: Captain Ogre of the Imperial Police. It was her job tonight to bring retribution upon his guilty soul which has deserved death for the longest time. It was her job to put an end to his evil reign of terror and to stop one of the many problems plaguing a corrupted empire.

As soon as Captain Ogre entered the pub, Akame stepped out of the shadows. As soon as he would come out again, she would approach him and ask him to follow her. When there was no sign of any witnesses, she would end his life.

Akame looked up. Mine was already starting to jump across the rooftops in pursuit of the boy. Before Mine disappeared, she turned her head towards Akame. She mouthed the words "good luck" before getting enveloped by the darkness of the night.

Akame looked back towards the pub, patiently waiting for her chance. Though she was on a mission, her mind seemed to be restless. She couldn't seem to focus on anything ever since she had spared that boy. She just couldn't stop thinking about Kurome.

Akame sighed. "Don't worry Kurome," Akame said. "Someday, we will meet again."


	8. Pain with Friends (Pt I)

**Author's Notes (don't read if you aren't interested in the story's development)** **:**

Thank you for following the development of "Tatsumi ga Kiryu!", although I am thinking of changing the title to something less corny. Before anything else, I would like to apologize if the rest of the story will be published on a much longer and slower timeframe. This is due to schoolwork and how I am still not sure about the story's timeline.  
When I first started writing this story, I already had a set plan for how the plot was going to progress and how the characters were going to develop, so much so that I already knew exactly what I was going to write (this was from start to finish.) As I started to draft up the story and had already written the first few chapters however, I began to have doubts about the grand scheme of things. Not only did my plot have a lot of holes in it, but it didn't really seem to give the characters the justice that they deserved (which was actually one of the main reasons why I wanted to write this in the first place; I felt like the show rushed the entire plot and some characters deserved more screentime.) Although my original plan was to spare most of the characters, there is only so much you can do without damaging the drama that Akame ga Kill! was known for in the first place.  
As I am writing this next set of chapters, I already have a bit of a new plan for the story which I think will be better than what I had originally planned (although personally, no story of mine can come close to virtually beating the source material.) It will still contain a lot of the bittersweet irony which I love so much (and I hope you love too) and I think that the amount of plot holes will decrease with this new idea. In trying to "preserve" the drama however, I will have to take up a big risk, as not only am I not completely sure about the sequencing of events but I am also going to have to experiment with more original characters, something which I consider to be pretty commonplace yet dangerous in any fan fiction.  
I will try my best to juggle all of these however, in order for the story to fall into place. I will spend a lot more time thinking about the timeline though, thus making it harder to publish chapters in a shorter span of time. Don't worry though, I already have an ending in mind (although I have to admit, it will probably take a bazillion chapters before we get to the final battle.)

Anyway, I have some more things to clarify and explain:

 **1\. Although a very small detail, I am going to change the description of Tatsumi's pistol into that of a revolver. Apparently the two have huge differences and aren't the same thing. Now some may be wondering why I have to change such a minuscule detail if it won't have any major significance in the plot's progression (trust me, it won't.) My answer: a rusty golden pistol? Really? Golden pistols (probably) look stupid, but has anyone actually ever seen a rusted golden pistol?  
**

 **2\. If you recall Seryu's explanation of the Imperial Arms, she never once mentioned the golden rule of all of the ancient super weapons (E.g. "When two Imperial Arm users fight, the fight will always result in death.") If it wasn't obvious enough, I was trying to parallel General Najenda's explanation of the weapons in Seryu's explanation to Tatsumi. I purposely left this part out, since I am not planning on making all of the fights in the story a two-way crossroad of death (people always forget about forgiveness and mercy and the occasional cowardice, but the rule makes it literally impossible.) I honestly found that rule, although unfair and in no reality possible (seriously, how do you enforce that rule? Magic!?), a useful way for the show's creators to "justify" everybody's deaths (E.g. Tatsumi had to die because the Emperor technically didn't.) Just for the record, I am not going to kill off everybody like the show did (Why Tatsumi? Why?)  
**

 **3\. At the start of each "batch", there will be author notes such as this long "prologue" right here. You don't have to read it if you don't want to, as it doesn't add to the plot or affect the story directly (it will also be, more often than not, me saying whatever comes into my head.) It does keep you updated about the story's direction though; it may even give you hints as to future events. There may also be a glossary at the end of each batch in case I use some obscure word.**

 **4\. Another reason why it will take so long to publish these next few chapters is due to the amount of proofreading I will have to do. Now that I am about to publish new content, I realize how many obvious and cringe-worthy mistakes I have made when it comes to language. I am also thinking of rewriting/editing all of the previous chapters, as there are some parts that are just so badly written. Because of the broken internet at home however (yes, our internet is broken), the previous edits that I have made have disappeared, and since I don't have a backup…**

 **And that's it! I'll try not to make it as long next time. If you can't take the story anymore (for whatever reason), take a breather and read a good manga (I'd suggest Real Account if you haven't read it yet, although it might just make you feel weird.) You'll also really need any sort of comfort you can get in the future, especially when I get to actually killing off Night Raid members (their deaths will hopefully hurt more than they did in the anime, not that I'm sadistic or anything.)**

Ciao!  
-WritingAmateur0604

 **Edit: Apparently, due to the chapters being half a year old, I won't be able to change anymore of their content. Whoops! Anyway, just forget about all of the flashbacks and overbearing sentences (along with changing Tatsumi's pistol with a revolver) and you should be fine.**

 **Chapter 8: Pain with Friends (Part I)  
**

 _The beat-up girl was looking at the bloody blade, terribly frightened and in no condition to fight back. Her right arm seemed to be broken, as indicated by the blood oozing out of the sleeve._

 _"You-You-You-!" The girl stammered as tears started to flood out of her eyes._

 _Much to Tatsumi's surprise, he stayed quiet. He looked at the girl without pity and without remorse. Anger started to swell up inside of him as he pointed the sword closer to the girl's neck._

 _"You're next."_

 _There was a scream, a swipe of the sword, and a burst of light before the dream faded._

Tatsumi suddenly woke up, his entire body drenched in sweat. He was seated upright in a cozy mahogany bed with a cool breeze brushing against his soft brown hair. The orange sun was just beginning to rise over the city walls, signaling that it was early in the morning.

"Where the he- Oh yeah... right," Tatsumi said, still exhausted from the recent events. " **I was saved two days ago. By an Imperial Police Officer.** "

Tatsumi stared blankly at the ceiling, recollecting his experiences from the past few days. So much seemed to have happened; one minute he was taken in by a sadistic "Samaritan", the next minute he buries his two best friends, then he is robbed, only to be taken in by Seryu who soon becomes his close friend...

"Well," Tatsumi thought, "I guess that I did choose this life with Sayo and Ieyasu." He just never expected it to turn this sour so quickly.

"Don't be so pessimistic. In the end, you still met somebody kind."

Tatsumi walked out of his room and approached the dining table. The house wasn't that big, but it was able to fit two floors. He was grateful towards Seryu for accommodating him despite the cramped space.

The middle of the table had a basket filled with an assortment of bread and pastries, most of which Tatsumi had never seen before. The smell told Tatsumi that it was freshly baked, probably by Seryu before she left for work.

"I almost forgot that Seryu had to go to work today." According to Seryu, she usually only got one day of rest from her duties as an officer. She was just allowed to rest the day before due to it being a holiday.

Still, it seemed like Seryu enjoyed working for the police force. In fact, she was extremely proud about it, almost to the point of obsession. Not only did she always wear her signature (conspicuous) uniform, but she also always talked about it with such high esteem. She also always mentioned how the police needed to enforce justice so that the Empire wouldn't fall apart, especially since the Revolutionary Army was growing at such an exponential rate. There was also the Night Raid...

Tatsumi clenched his teeth at the thought of them. Morphing into the daughter of your victim seemed too extreme in any scenario, and if what Seryu said was true, that these people were the embodiments of pure evil, he knew that if he ever saw them, he would need to crush them.

Of course, that implied that he was ready to. If these rebels could really take out any target whenever they wanted to, he would definitely not stand a chance against them. At least in his current state.

Still...something seemed out of place. For some reason, Tatsumi couldn't fully believe that the Night Raid were pure evil. They may be assassins, but if they truly are human beings, then they too must experience emotions like any other normal person.

At least, he believed that they were people.

Then again, Tatsumi was deceived by that girl into thinking that she was a compassionate child when she was actually a psychopathic megalomaniac. The Capital really is dangerous.

Tatsumi began to munch on the freshly-baked treats. For a girl her age, Seryu was a pretty skilled cook and baker who could handle herself in the kitchen. It could even be said that her cooking was almost as good as Sayo's. Almost.

Tatsumi sighed as he finished eating a croissant filled with strawberry jam. "Nobody back home would deceive anyone like that. The Capital..."

Even so, he still wanted to believe that the Night Raid and the Revolutionary Army weren't remorseless savages. Despite what he was told, he would never forget that savage, bloody night. He would never forget that girl in the garden. The red-eyed girl who spared him...

Tatsumi stood up from his chair and began to walk towards the door. Seryu must have been waiting for him to arrive. She had told him the night before that with her help, he would surely get into the Imperial Police. After all, he did have the resolve to fight for "absolute justice" or something like that.

It was just a shame that she had left him alone, although she would have probably been late if she waited for him. The police did wake up really early in the morning.

Tatsumi smiled as he locked the door with the spare key that Seryu had given him. "Don't worry Sayo and Ieyasu. I'll become an outstanding police officer, just you wait and see!"

It didn't take long for Tatsumi to find the Imperial Police HQ. Not only did he now have a map, but Seryu had also given him specific directions on how to get there using a much faster route. Truth be told, he did reach the station in a surprisingly short amount of time.

He just didn't expect there to be such a commotion.

From inside of the small station, he could see groups of policemen, both young and old, in their signature iron chest plates standing around a semi-circular secretary desk. Although Tatsumi couldn't see what was going on, he could hear sobbing and weeping from within the massive crowd. Even if he couldn't see all of their faces clearly, he only needed to see a few sad eyes to tell him that everybody was grieving over something, over someone. A lot of them were hugging each other, trying to spread some form of comfort. There were those who were very expressive of their feelings, while there were also those who just stood there, paralyzed in shock, unable to move whilst their faces got drained of all life and color. It was a gloomy and rather depressing scene, something that Tatsumi didn't expect to see that day, let alone want to see on any other day.

"Get away from me!"

Tatsumi watched a teary-eyed Seryu dash out of the building. Her hair flowed in the wind as she sped down the cobblestone street, running as wildly as a wild horse. She seemed to have no clear destination in mind.

Seryu bumped into Tatsumi on the way, but she either didn't notice or care. She was engulfed in an indescribable grief.

She was quickly followed by a fellow comrade who seemed to be the same age as her. As the boy came running the street, Tatsumi was able to get a clear glimpse of his physique. He was the same height as Seryu and they both had similar proportions for the eyes, nose and mouth, but his black spiky hair gave off a somehow more energetic vibe. In comparison to Seryu, he was much more solemn and was calmer than a lot of the other police members. Although he was wearing the signature chestplate of the Imperial Police, Tatsumi noticed that he wore jeans instead of the usual black pants. His big brown eyes were focused on Seryu's auburn hair, following it as it faded quickly into the roads and past the horizon.

Wait...where had he seen this boy before? He was getting a serious case of deja vu just by looking at him.

Suddenly, the boy stopped beside Tatsumi. Raising his head, the two boys locked eyes. Although he was much shorter than him and may have even looked younger, Tatsumi somehow knew that they were the same age, if he wasn't older by a year or so. Tatsumi was also able to sense a bit of his fiery aura, even though it was in some way quelled by the serious look on his face. Why did he seem to kn-

Tatsumi froze. The boy looked exactly like Ieyasu.

The boy looked down and shook his head before speeding off again. Tatsumi just stood there for a few seconds, trying to contemplate what had just happened. He knew that they couldn't possibly be the same person, as they had a bit of a height difference (Ieyasu was just a bit taller.) Aside from this, although Tatsumi hated to admit it, Ieyasu was dead forever. He had already seen him die.

"What are you thinking!?" Tatsumi blinked a few times before re-focusing his attention on the boy who was now chasing Seryu. Tatsumi broke into a sprint in pursuit of the two. He had promised Seryu that he would be there for her in her time of need, and he wasn't planning on breaking that promise anytime soon.

After a few sharp turns, Tatsumi already had an idea of where the two were going. Instead of speeding after them, Tatsumi charged forward towards the town plaza. Seryu did say that it was her favorite place to lament whenever she had problems, since it was where her favorite restaurant was located. It was where they had eaten the day before.

As Tatsumi entered the plaza, he quickly scanned the area for any sign of the two police officers. With loads of people now swarming around the center fountain, it would be hard to make out anybody's faces, even if they did have a certain dress code.

"Was I too late?" Tatsumi turned his attention towards the small restaurant where they had ordered gelato together. Instead of seeing Seryu, he saw the spiky-haired officer seated on the bench outside of the cafe. He was drenched in sweat and was panting heavily, his eyes looking down at the cobble road whilst his hands clasped his face.

Tatsumi sat down beside the tired boy. Slowly, he put his hand on the boy's shoulder. The boy slowly removed his hands from his face and looked up.

"Sir..." The boy immediately straightened his back and turned towards Tatsumi, his right arm forming a salute. "Are you in need of any help, Sir!?"

Tatsumi was startled by the formal gesture. Were all officers like this?

Tatsumi quickly recovered from the startled look. "Uhhhh..." Tatsumi didn't really know what to say.

"Wait," the boy said, "you're that guy from a while ago."

"Yeah." Tatsumi tried to muster up a weak smile. "Listen, about Seryu..."

The boy winced at the sound of Seryu's name, but his face was able to return to a serious expression. "What is it that you want to know about Seryu?"

"Well, what happened?"

"Huh?" The boy seemed confused as he raised his eyebrows and stared directly into Tatsumi's emerald eyes.

"Well," Tatsumi laughed weakly as he was beginning to sense the tension. "Why was she...running?"

The boy leaned closer towards Tatsumi. He tried to focus more onto Tatsumi's eyes, despite the boy being a few inches shorter. His eyes were now deadly serious, lips tightened shut.

"So...you don't know, huh?" The boy sighed. It took a few more seconds for the boy to return to his normal upright position. "You wouldn't care anyways. You aren't part of the police force." From a tense and serious expression, his face began to droop and become gloomy. His aura suddenly mimicked the atmosphere of the crowd back at the police station.

"Early this morning, before the sun began to rise, our head captain, Captain Ogre as we called him, was...murdered."

Tatsumi held in his shock. Captain Ogre!? As in, the officer who they met the night before? That Ogre!?

"A barkeep from a pub nearby found his corpse as he was taking out the trash early today," the boy explained. "He nearly fainted at the sight of the body, exclaiming that he couldn't believe that cap' out of all people was killed as they had just seen each other the night before. Cap' was a regular at that pub."

Tatsumi kept silent amidst his confusion. He too couldn't believe that the kind man who he had just met a while ago was now gone forever. Sure, he looked monstrous, but Seryu did say that he had a good heart.

"As for the causes of death," the boy continued, his face slowly returning to the tension that it was so used to expressing, "me and some people from the forensics division found a single precise cut wound located at the center of his throat. Immediately, we knew that no normal person could do this, as cap' was a master swordsman. The cut was also too precise to be from one of the run-of-the-mill mercs or anything like that, so it must have been... an assassin." The boy took a deep breath before continuing. "Our hunch was confirmed when the forensics team told us this morning that traces of signature incurable flower poison were found in his bloodstream. I knew what that meant." The boy clenched his fists as he stared off into the crowds that were now beginning to dominate the streets. His eyes were hellbent and his aura was overbearing.

"We all knew what that meant."

Tatsumi just stared at the boy's menacing face. He really was at a loss for words. Ogre must have meant a lot to so many people, yet without the slightest warning he had been removed from the face of the earth. He had been taken from everybody he loved and everybody who loved him back. Tatsumi now knew how the boy was feeling. He knew the feeling all too well.

Then again, what now? He was spending too much time with this boy. He still needed to find-

"Seryu." Tatsumi snapped out of his trance. Slowly, he focused his attention back onto the boy's stature, which was now once again slumping over and returning to its rather depressing state. The amount of expressions that the boy was able to make over the past few minutes made Tatsumi wonder if the boy was bipolar or ADHD. Ieyasu was (in the technical sense) a bit of both, and he too was jumpy and could change his entire emotional state before the sentence was over.

"Hey..." Tatsumi's voice cracked. He found it hard to talk due to the sensitivity of the situation. "About Seryu..."

The boy turned towards Tatsumi, his big eyes now filled with pain and sorrow. Tatsumi felt even sorrier for him.

"What's it to you?" The boy asked, although he was more glum than annoyed.

"S-sorry?"

"I said, what's it to you?"

"Well..." Tatsumi felt chills down his spine as the boy stared deeply into Tatsumi's nervous eyes, the unnerving eyes peering into the recesses of his soul. "I'm a...friend of hers."

The boy seemed surprised by this answer, with most of the strain in his eyes having been quickly replaced by puzzlement. He raised one of his eyebrows as he scooted closer towards Tatsumi until they were practically bumping thighs, his face still inline with Tatsumi's. He leaned in closer, forcing Tatsumi to lean back, even though the boy was much shorter than most of the boys Tatsumi's age.

"That's weird though," the boy said after a few awkward moments of silence. They had both stopped leaning, but the boy's body still stayed where it was. "I thought that I knew all of Seryu's friends."

"Well, we did just meet a few days ago." Tatsumi then told the boy the story of how he had first met Seryu and how she was taking care of some of his needs for the time being. The boy listened intently, hinged on every single word that came out Tatsumi's mouth. He seemed very interested in story.

"And that's why I came to the Police Station, only instead of finding Seryu..." Tatsumi himself stopped there. The boy already knew what had happened next, probably more than he himself did.

"I see." The boy turned his body back to its natural upright position, his head facing straight towards the fountain. He seemed lost in thought.

"Well, here's a bit of info for you about Seryu: she was Captain's favorite student, and he was her favorite teacher. They were like father and daughter."

At the sound of this, Tatsumi's head drooped and he stared at his feet. He already had a feeling that they were this close.

"Still though," the boy continued, "Cap' was the best mentor that any of us could have ever had. He was strong and diligent, had a good sense of humor, and had a big heart. He was... awesome."

For the first time in their entire conversation, the boy smiled, almost shedding a tear in the process. He was even able to manage a weak laugh, which made Tatsumi smile too. Tatsumi then realized that he enjoyed talking with this young officer, despite the ambiguity of his identity. He didn't even know the boy's name, yet he felt happy for him.

After a few heartfelt moments, the boy held out his left hand towards Tatsumi, his face now illuminated with a wholesome smile that seemed somewhat childlike for a police officer. Tatsumi gaped as he looked down at the hand which was just a bit smaller than his own, surprised by this sudden gesture of friendship.

"Felix Kodoku, Senior Police Officer Rank 6, Squad 3, Codename "Dante" of the Ogre Squad." The boy's smile grew wider, making him look extremely childish.

Tatsumi raised both of his hands up in front of his chest as a polite sign of refusal. "Ahhh," Tatsumi laughed weakly. "I don't that you should be giving information like that to a stranger like me."

"Pfffft. Anyone who Seryu is okay with, I'm okay with. I trust her. Besides, if anyone does try to use this information against me..." Without warning, the boy suddenly pulled out two sleek black dual pistols from the concealed holsters at the sides of his jeans and held them against Tatsumi's neck.

Tatsumi just sat there petrified while bystanders quickly walked away. It wasn't that he was shocked at seeing the boy have weapons with him (he was a police officer after all), but what bothered him was the speed at which he pulled out the guns. The motion just seemed to flow through the boy's entire body, from the head down to the arms and waist, as he picked up the two pistols and pointed them at Tatsumi. For an experienced swordsman, Tatsumi was utterly bewildered by the reaction time of his "attacker." He didn't even have to reach for his sword!

Tatsumi gulped before managing a weak laugh. "Don't worry 'bout it. You can trust me."

"Okay." Felix slowly returned the two guns before once again offering his left hand. He was still grinning innocently, although Tatsumi knew that "innocent" probably wasn't the best word to describe him after what had just happened.

Having no choice, Tatsumi grasped Felix's left hand and shook it gently. "Well, it's nice to meet you Felix," Tatsumi said politely as he presented a genuine smile. He was still a bit shaken up about Felix's speed and audacity, but Tatsumi really did feel happy that they were able to become friends in such a short span of time. Without hesitation, the boy had shared some of his feelings with Tatsumi, despite them not having met anytime before, and was thus able to let go of a few burdens that were weighing him down. He wasn't angry or sad or confused anymore: he was happy, and seeing others happy made Tatsumi happy too.

"It's just a shame though," Tatsumi said. "In the end, we weren't able to catch Seryu."

"Nahhh, that's okay," Felix said lightheartedly. "When she's extremely sad, she heads out into the city and walks around for an hour or so before going back to her place. Trust me, I know."

"Huh." Tatsumi stood up from the bench where they sat. Felix seemed to know a lot about Seryu, some of which Tatsumi wished he knew so that he too could help her in times like this. What could he expect though: It had only been two days since they had met each other.

"Well, I guess that we better get going so that we can comfort her when she gets back."

"That's actually a good idea." Tatsumi and Felix both stood up and started to walk out of the plaza.

Before turning the second to the last corner that led to Seryu's house, Tatsumi decided to get to know Felix better.

"So...Felix. You're pretty fast. With your pistols I mean."

"Ahhh." Felix smiled mischievously as he shrugged off Tatsumi's praise. "It took a lot of practice, y'know. I've been in the police force for 5 years now, ever since I was twelve."

"Twelve!?" Tatsumi stared at Felix with utter disbelief. He thought that Seryu joining the force at the age of 14 was nuts, but this was just crazy! Does the Capital even have rules against child labor!? He wasn't even allowed to wield a sword until he was 13!

Felix was meanwhile laughing his ass off at Tatsumi's reaction. His laugh sounded like the groan of a dying pig. Strangely enough, it reminded Tatsumi of Sayo's laugh when they used to have fun together back at the village. It only seemed like yesterday that they had once again gone to their favorite spot with Ieyasu, sharing stories as they enjoyed the cool breeze on the mountaintop. They would often stay up there for hours, laughing in the warmth of each other's company.

He decided to laugh along too. It brought back so many good memories. Sadly, he knew that they would never happen again.

As they were about to turn the last corner, Felix seemed to get a bit jittery. He suddenly placed his hands in his pockets and started to whistle a tune that Tatsumi had never heard before. He seemed awfully nervous for a guy just visiting a friend's house. This was all from Tatsumi's perspective however, as it was still normal for him to forget that Seryu was truly a girl; with the way that she talked and took charge and even in the way that she dressed, it was no surprise that Tatsumi saw her as a tomboy. After all, the only other girl that Tatsumi knew who was around his age was way more feminine than Seryu ever was, and Tatsumi didn't feel any tension whatsoever whilst talking to either of them.

Speaking of Seryu...

"Actually, you never told me about your relationship with Seryu." It was Tatsumi who brought up this. "Are you her superior? Is she your childhood friend?"

"Yes and yes, and even more than that."

"Even more?" Tatsumi took out the key for Seryu's house as he looked towards Felix with his eyebrows raised in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Oh? You don't know?" A sly smile was now crawling its way across the face of the young officer.

"Well... You didn't exactly tell me."

"So you don't know." If it was even possible, his smile got even wider.

"Yeah..." Tatsumi still hadn't opened the door. He was still waiting for an answer.

"Well, promise me you won't freak out, okay?"

Tatsumi slowly nodded. Why would freak out?

"I'm actually her boyfriend."


	9. Pain with Friends (Pt II)

**Chapter 9: Pain with Friends (Part II)  
**

2 hours had passed before Seryu returned back home. Entering the doorway, she found Tatsumi and Felix waiting patiently for her on the couch. They both stood up once they saw her, but no words came out of their mouths.

Tatsumi immediately noticed how tired Seryu looked now in comparison to the night before. Her armor was slightly loosened and was now drenched in sweat and tears. Her long hair which always seemed neat and tidy now had messy strands sticking out here and there. Her eyes were still a bit puffy from crying and her cheeks were rose red. She was slumped over and heaved heavily, as if she had been running for a really long time (which was probably the case.) Her deplorable state reminded Tatsumi of one of the grieving mothers in his village after her son had been maimed by a wild bear. Tatsumi knew that this was different though: Captain Ogre had been murdered.

At first, Seryu seemed surprised to see two of her friends waiting for her inside of her home. She was quickly able to regain some sort of composure though and tried to make herself look a bit more presentable. After a few moments of silence, she croaked.

"There's bread on the table," she said in a hoarse voice. Expecting an answer, she stood there looking into the eyes of her companions, her feet planted on the ground. Tatsumi stood there petrified, staring back into her shiny amber eyes.

Felix couldn't bear to see his lover in despair and just decided to look down.

After a silent exchange of looks, Seryu sighed with a rather downcast expression. Slowly, she proceeded up the stairs to her room.

It took a short while for Tatsumi to break out of his trance. It was surprising for Tatsumi to see Seryu looking this hurt, as he had never imagined her as a type who would feel hopeless, let alone feel depressed. Although they had just been friends for a day or two, Tatsumi knew that she didn't get this sad that often. Felix also seemed flabbergasted, as they both just stood there for a minute or so after Seryu had retreated to her room.

Felix sighed. "Should we have said something? I know that I should've. I just never know what to say."

Tatsumi sensed Felix's guilt. "Don't worry; I don't think that there was anything that we could've said. We would've just made it worse."

"I mean... I doubt that Seryu was expecting me here. She never allowed people to stay at her place, not even me. To be honest, aside from Captain Ogre, you are the only one who I've seen enter her house as if it was nothing."

Tatsumi gulped. Was he supposed to feel guilty? Based on what Felix had said, it seemed as if he was special. Was he?

Tatsumi then remembered what Seryu had told him the night before, how he reminded her of someone. Could it have something to do with that?

Tatsumi shook his head. "Why are you thinking about this now? You should be helping your friend."

Felix sighed again. "Well, since I feel that Seryu doesn't exactly want me here, I might as well let myself out. After all..." Felix surveyed his surroundings and laughed a bit to himself. "I should consider myself lucky. I finally got to see her place with my own two eyes and to be honest, it's actually pretty decent."

Felix took his leave a few minutes later, leaving Tatsumi to question whether he had made the right choice by letting him into her home.

Tatsumi was now all alone on the couch. It was a bit before noon, although Tatsumi felt like an entire day had already passed. He was so tired and he wanted to sleep, even if he barely did anything physically strenuous that day (running was part of his daily workout.)

He was left to wonder how Seryu felt about everything that had happened thus far. More than that, he was left asking himself whether he should go up and try to comfort her. His conscience was telling him to, but he wasn't sure if it would ease her pain. What would he say when he did get up there? They had only been friends for a day or two after all.

But still, they were friends, and as much as Tatsumi knew, Seryu was the only person in the Capital in whom he could depend on.

At last, Tatsumi decided to help her. He may not be able to do much, but just being there for her was what mattered. That was what Sayo and Ieyasu did for him when they were still around.

As Tatsumi slowly climbed the stairs, his heart pounded harder and harder. Every step took more and more power, as if he were being slowly crushed by gravity. The creaking of the stairs became louder and louder the higher he went, as if they were sharp needles pressing against his head. Bullets started to run down his face, with him nervously gulping every now and then. On the final step, he took a deep breath before walking over and opening the door to Seryu's room.

Tatsumi had no expectations as to the aesthetics of Seryu's room, although he had to admit that it looked rather simple. Sure, it had a few drawings and artworks hung on the walls and a wooden study table leaning on the corner of the room, but the bedroom looked exactly like the guest room that Tatsumi was staying in as of the moment. The same bed, the same color scheme, even the positioning of the closets and drawers were the same. Perhaps Seryu was on duty most of the time that she didn't see the need to over decorate her room. It showed so little of Seryu, and yet so much of her at the same time.

As soon as he had entered the room, Tatsumi saw Seryu seated on her bed's white mattress, not having removed her police uniform. Having regained her composure and thoroughly cleaned her face, she was examining an artwork in her hands until Tatsumi had cone in. They were now both staring at each other.

Seryu spoke in an almost indistinguishable voice. "So...did Felix leave?"

It took a few seconds for Tatsumi to answer. "Yeah actually. He said that he didn't feel comfortable staying at your house since he wasn't invited."

Seryu managed a weak smile. "Well, that's Felix for you: brash and rude on the outside, but bashful and kind on the inside. Come in Tatsumi, don't be shy. Sit right beside me."

Tatsumi slowly stepped in and closed the door. Judging by Seryu's smile, Tatsumi was welcome in her room. He sat down beside her on the bed.

For a few moments, Tatsumi and Seryu avoided eye contact; Tatsumi stared at the wall right in front of him while Seryu continued to marvel at the thin paper in her hands. After a few moments, Tatsumi decided to have a peek at what Seryu was so interested in.

The paper contained a pencil sketch of a boy and a girl. Even if the drawing was simple, Tatsumi could easily make out that the two people in the drawing were about 8 to 10 years old. The boy on the right side of the drawing was making a peace sign with his left hand, his a wide smile making him look all the more innocent. His hair was combed neatly in a barber's cut, and the clothes that he wore had eccentric designs. Despite it just being a sketch, Tatsumi knew that the boy was rich.

The girl to the left of the drawing was obviously Seryu, she too making a peace sign whilst smiling. Except for a collared shirt and shorter hair, Tatsumi noticed that Seryu's features didn't really change from when she was a child. Especially the innocence in her eyes.

Her eyes strangely reminded him of Sayo. Tatsumi suddenly wanted to stare into her eyes for eternity.

Seryu giggled as she looked wistfully at the sketch, her rosy cheeks complimenting her petite smile. Tatsumi wasn't really interested in the picture; he was just glad that Seryu was smiling once again.

"Tatsumi," Seryu said, her eyes still focused on the paper, "do you remember the boy I talked about last night? My childhood friend?"

"Yeah, I do." The details were a bit hazy, but Tatsumi still remembered. When Seryu was a child, she had a close friend who Tatsumi reminded her a lot of. One day however, he betrayed Seryu and joined the Revolutionary Army. Other than that however, he didn't know that much about this friend of hers.

"You know Tatsumi," Seryu said dreamily, "me and him met when we were just 7 years old. I was playing in the garden behind Captain Ogre's training ground and I was swinging on a makeshift swing my dad had set up a few days before. Out of nowhere, a rattan* ball comes out from over the cobble wall and hits me on the head. Before I can cry out though, a boy climbs up from the other side of the wall and apologizes.

"You know," Seryu giggled, "when I first met the boy, I regarded him as a snob. He dressed like some kind of ambassador with his blue polo and khaki pants, whereas I saw nothing wrong with a sando and shorts. Yet when I try to remember…"

Seryu then looked up from the paper, as though she were trying recall something. Something pleasant that she never wanted to forget. "He was the least snobby person that I have ever met. In fact, he was quite the charmer." At this point, Seryu stopped and smiled for a brief moment, savoring the sweet, sweet memories.

"As the days went by however, the boy began to visit me more and more regularly. The ball would somehow keep on ending up in the garden, and the boy would always come over to get his ball back. After a week or so, we began having actual conversations: I learned about his rich and extravagant life, which was probably because of how his parents were part of the Minister's court."

"I soon also learned however, that the boy was also extremely lonely. His parents only allowed him to be friends with the students at his school because they were of "higher standing", and thus all of his friends were rich snobs who refused to, in his words, "help those who needed help." He was often ostracized because of this: he spent more time helping the poor and sick instead of playing with his classmates, who began to consider him weird. Pretty soon, his parents banned him from visiting the slums because they were worried that it might affect their reputation, and more importantly his social life. As such, he would often play sipa* alone, a sport which none of his classmates knew. He had learned it from a old man with leprosy."

"We would often play together, him and I, and as the years went by, he became my best friend. You see, just like him, dad and Ogre were always particular about who my friends were in fear that I might be taken hostage someday. That is why I was so happy to be with him, as he was someone who I could relate with, someone who I knew was a genuine friend and not just someone who was handpicked for me out of safety. He was the only person I could act natural around."

Silence reigned supreme as Seryu paused, still staring up at the ceiling, reminiscing her days of joy and of bliss.

 **And of pain. Horrible pain.**

"His parents soon found out about this friendship however, and after alerting my dad-sorry, I meant Captain Ogre, we were both prevented from seeing each other. That didn't stop us though: we would see each other almost every night in d-Orge's backyard. Even if we did meet in secret, I felt free around him, as if there weren't any boundaries at all. I felt like I could do anything with him. His smile..."

Seryu directed her gaze towards the paper in her hands. Slowly, tears started to trickle down from Seryu's eyes, the beads running down her face. A few of the tears were able to reach the paper before Seryu was able to bury her face in her hands.

Not knowing what to do, Tatsumi put his arm around her as she continued to cry.

"Y-You know," Seryu sniffled, her grief becoming more apparent, "I p-p-promised Cap' that I wouldn't think about him anymore. I keep on t-telling m-myself that he's gone, that h-he'll never come back. But I can't. I c-can't stop thinking of him. H-His smile Tatsumi. It's his smile! And n-no matter what I do, I can never forget him: how he looks like, what we do, it always comes back to haunt me. And I didn't get to say it to him before he became evil, but I loved him Tatsumi. I still do! What if I told him that before he left? Would he have even left? Would he have been saved? Is it my fault that he's...he's..."

Seryu stopped rambling. Her gulps and sniffles reminded Tatsumi of him when he once tripped and broke his ankle as a kid. No matter how much Seryu tried to hide it, she had the heart of a little child.

After a few moments, Seryu removed her hands from her face. She had once again regained her composure, but her face and hair had now reverted to a messier state.

"I'm sorry that you had to see that Tatsumi."

Tatsumi wasn't paying attention however. He had slowly taken the sketch from Seryu's hands and was now studying the amount of detail that went into such a simple drawing. "Did you draw this?" Tatsumi asked, his eyes still focused on the drawing.

Seryu was caught off guard. "Huh? Ummm...yeah. I drew it myself. Me and him each have one as part of a little contest we had back then. We were both good at drawing."

Tatsumi smiled and even stifled a little laugh. "What's wrong?" Seryu asked. "Is there something funny?"

Tatsumi gave the picture back to Seryu. "No," he said, "it's beautiful. That's what."

Seryu was once again surprised by Tatsumi's reply. She stared for a few moments at the drawing before focusing her attention back onto Tatsumi. Tatsumi was still smiling.

"You know," Tatsumi said wistfully, "when I got sad, I always had this notebook with me which had sketches of everybody that I loved. That way, whenever I got sad, all I had to do was to look at the notebook and remember all of the good times I shared with the person, whether they were still with me or not. I'm sure that's what you did too, right?"

Seryu stayed silent. He was right.

"Seryu," Tatsumi was now looking directly into the eyes of Seryu, his eyes filled with the gentleness of a child. "I may not have known this person, nor am I an expert at this, but I don't think that you should ever forget about this person. If what you say is true, if you did have good memories with him, even if he is now someone you may not recognize anymore, always remember that there was once a time when he was this person you now see in this picture; and if that's the case, he can still change, right?"

Seryu kept silent as she turned her attention back to the picture, looking at it with curious intent.

"I think that you should keep that picture with you Seryu, so that when you're feeling down, you can always cheer yourself back up. That is what friendships are for, I think: they are to remind us that there is always hope for the future."

Seryu continued to stare at the picture. After a few moments, Seryu smiled. She began to fold the paper and finally placed it in her pant pockets. She stifled a silent laugh: it only lasted about half a second, but it was still a laugh.

"Thank you Tatsumi. I will cherish his memory. Forever."

Tatsumi smiled. He was glad to see Seryu back to her cheery regular state. He liked her this way.

"Hey Tatsumi, did I ever tell you how your smile reminded me of him?"

Tatsumi thought for a moment. "Yeah actually. Why?"

Seryu looked to the floor and giggled. "Nothing."

Tatsumi thought for a few moments before passing it off as nothing. He was just happy that Seryu was back to normal.

"Still...Captain Ogre's murder..." Seryu clenched her fists as her expression changed from that of joy to that of regret and grief and possibly anger. She pondered for a few moments before finally standing up and walking towards the study table at the corner of the room.

The small wooden table had just enough space to seat one person. Although it wasn't big, its bottom right support had 4 drawers from bottom to top. It also had extra shelving which acted as a roof for the entire table. It seemed to have been waxed and cleaned regularly.

Tatsumi was meanwhile wondering what Seryu was going to do next; it had now occurred to him why Felix was able to become her boyfriend in the first place. They were both so...unpredictable at times.

As Seryu approached the table, she began to chant their names over and over again. "Night Raid...Night Raid... Night Raid." With every step that she took towards the table, the chanting became louder and more hysterical. Slowly placing her hands on the tabletop, she lifted up what at first seemed to be a study space, revealing a whiteboard filled up with diagrams and charts, figures and names. Every second that it took her, the more tense the atmosphere in the room became. Tatsumi found it harder and harder to breath with every mention of the evil organization, finding himself in a struggle for air although he was perfectly normal.

As Seryu finished setting up the table, she turned her head towards Tatsumi, who was stuck to the bed, his legs preventing him from getting up. Her eyes were now filled with fiery hatred, her lips stitched together with anger. There was a huge contrast in comparison to Tatsumi, who was now beginning to feel worried and frightened.

"Ummm...Seryu? Is something the matter?"

Seryu continued to stare into Tatsumi's eyes, her fiery gaze screaming out for vengeance. Vengeance for Captain Ogre. Vengeance for her evil best friend. Vengeance against Night Raid.

"Tatsumi," Seryu said as she finally spoke up, her tone now more firm and serious, "the more that I try to tell myself that these people can still change, the more that I begin to doubt myself. These people, no matter who they were, have been tainted with evil, killing the innocent in order to get what they want. Once somebody changes, it is impossible for him to change back to who he may have been before. Thus, there is only one place for all of them to stay: **Hell**."

Seryu turned her head back towards the board, examining the data that she had collected that could help in bringing about the Night Raid's destruction. Tatsumi on the other hand felt his body overheat; he had never seen Seryu this serious.

"This Tatsumi," Seryu exclaimed, her eyes now hellbent and crazy, "this is the progress I've made over the last 2 years. Every single day, I tried to track down the Night Raid and find a weakness in their seemingly invincible task force. With help from Felix, who is a senior officer, I was able to gain access to files that would aid me in their purification. I now know their patterns: when they kill, what routes they take, and with some research, who they could kill next. That way, me and Felix could get to a possible victim beforehand in order to catch those bastards in the act."

"We stopped two months ago however, when Captain Ogre found out about our plans. He was worried that I was becoming too obsessed with ending these criminals, and he said that he didn't want to see me get killed because of something like this. He said that the police could handle it better than I could. Look where that has gotten him."

Tatsumi was getting more worried by the second. "Surely Seryu didn't just criticize her deceased Captain right!?"

"I didn't believe him though. Aside from me and Felix, almost none of the other members of the police force had the guts to kill on sight. They're all scared, avoiding as much altercations with the Night Raid as possible. I'm not; I charge at them head on."

"Tatsumi." Seryu now walked towards Tatsumi and placed her hands upon his shoulders. Tatsumi gulped. He knew what was coming next.

" **I need you to help me.** "

Tatsumi was still trying to cope with what was happening, even more so now that he was being invited by Seryu to kill other people on the spot. People who have lives that he may never know about. People who may have once grown up with friends in a village just like him. Actual. Living. People.

Seryu saw the fright in Tatsumi's eyes. She changed her expression from that of rage to that of grief. Tatsumi seemed to calm down a little.

"Tatsumi," Seryu said, her tone now more gentle, "these people, the Night Raid, they kill without remorse. Their mission is to overthrow the government and to destroy everything that it has worked so hard to build up. This would plunge the world into utter chaos. Don't you see: **these people are pure evil, and we have to stop them,** **by any means necessary**. "

Tatsumi still wasn't convinced. He still wasn't comfortable with killing people on sight. For some reason, he could never imagine himself killing people his age. Although he had already done so to a younger girl just a few nights before, he could never imagine himself killing that black-haired girl in the garden, who he didn't know yet seemed a lot like him. He didn't want to make the mistake of removing one good person from the face of the Earth, let alone a bunch of them.

Despite their dispositions, they could still change, right?

"Tatsumi..." Seryu sighed and bit her lip. He left her no choice. "Your friends, Sayo and Ieyasu, what happened to them?"

Tatsumi was stunned. The fact that she had the guts to bring up his two best friends showed that she was desperate, yet it also sparked a fire within his soul.

"Tatsumi?"

"Th-Th-They were killed."

"By who?" Seryu asked, now more confident in what she was saying, although she did feel a bit guilty for doing this to Tatsumi.

This was necessary though, if her plans were to succeed.

"A family of-of-"

"Who killed them?"

"A family of three: a father, a mother, and a daughter."

"Did they show any sign of remorse?"

"N-No."

"Did they enjoy what they were doing?"

Tatsumi looked down. He was now on the brink of tears. Images from that horrible night now came flooding. The bodies, the laughs, the smiles, everything was so vivid in his memory. **His friends died that night. His two best friends. His only friends.  
**  
"Did they enjoy what they were doing?"

It took Tatsumi a few moments to answer.

"Yes."

"Why?"

Tatsumi looked back up at Seryu, her face now filled with determination. He somehow started to hate Seryu for doing this in order to convince him, and yet his heart began to fill up with anger and hatred towards the family. It was because of them that his friends were all dead. It was because of them that he was all alone.

"They were monsters. They took pleasure from the pain in the eyes of the weak, and loved to see others suffer. They deserved to die."

"So what did you do to them?"

"I killed them all."

"The entire family?"

"The entire family."

"Even the child?"

There was a few seconds of complete silence. They couldn't even hear their own breathing.

"Even the child."

"Now Tatsumi, I want you to imagine this: what if the Night Raid got there before you did? What if they caught your friends dining with them, or even just staying with them? Would they not have done the same? After all, they did kill everyone else in the house, innocent or not. The maids, the guards, all of them were slaughtered in their name."

Tatsumi just kept silent, but he knew that Seryu was right. Night Raid was only there to bring chaos upon the Empire, and they didn't care about who they killed in the process. If his friends had met the Night Raid face-to-face, they would've been slaughtered all the same, just like their other victims beforehand. They would've suffered, just like Captain Ogre, who had taken care of Seryu and an entire police force for years now. They would've suffered, just like Seryu's father, who was killed in one of the most traumatic ways possible. Not only would they suffer, but the people who loved them too, people who would suffer if without warning, they suddenly lost the most important people in their lives.

Despite their past lives, these people were murderers who needed to be brought to justice. If their acts of murder wouldn't stop, more people would get affected. More people would weep and mourn, more people would regret, more people would suffer.

If nobody was fit to do the dirty work, he would have no choice but to take matters into his own hands. **He would have to become a killer.**

Seryu hugged Tatsumi tightly, immediately regretting what she had said. She now felt really guilty for having to mention his dead friends, especially to a great friend like Tatsumi. He didn't deserve to go through this pain again.

"Tatsumi, I'm so-"

"Don't be."

Seryu was a bit shocked by the tension in Tatsumi's voice. She released the hug, only to see Tatsumi's eyes come to life.

"You're right Seryu," Tatsumi said, his eyes now burning with newfound zeal, "they would have done the same. They would have killed my friends, and they could be killing more innocent people as we speak. As much as I hate to admit it...you're right."

"They must be stopped."

Tatsumi stood up and walked towards the board, taking note of all of the sketches and diagrams that it had contained within. It had so much info on how they could possibly bring down the Night Raid, and all of that gave Tatsumi hope. If they could pull this off, they could ensure the safety of thousands-no, millions of people for generations to come.

With this, Sayo and Ieyasu would be proud.

Seryu smiled as she gazed at Tatsumi. The serious determination in his spirit was slowly being replaced with relief and hopeful joy as his straight face was being overcome by a widening smile. That is what she loved about Tatsumi: amidst the raging fire that could light up and storm his spirit, there was always going to be that little candlelight inside of him that was gentle and kind and filled with innocent hope. Just by looking at him, one could be put at ease immediately, with hope that all of their dreams would succeed.

Seryu was glad that she had met someone with as much zest and zeal as Tatsumi. His hunger for justice and love for others was incomparable with anybody whom she had ever met before. She knew that if her plans were going to succeed, she would need someone like him to be on her side.

"I'm glad that you chose the right side Tatsumi," Seryu said as she continued to look at Tatsumi with relief and delight.

"Yeah, me too." Tatsumi smiled back at Seryu. "Who knows what would have happened if I joined their ranks?"

Seryu giggled. "You wouldn't survive a day."

They both laughed for a bit before Seryu embraced Tatsumi once again. "Thank you," she said, "for being there for me."

"No, thank you," Tatsumi thought, "for giving me something to fight for."

 _And as they hugged each other in that bedroom, what seemed to be a few seconds felt like hours. This was just the beginning of Tatsumi's journey from a simple village boy to a hero of the Empire, a hero who would save the lives of hundreds of people through his acts of self-sacrifice._

 _Or so he had hoped, but as Tatsumi would soon find out, hopes never last very long._

The radiant white moon shone over the landscape as the Night Raid's base nested by the riverside. In it, each and every member of the notorious assassination group was sleeping soundly within their own quarters. All except one.

Akame was quietly looking out of a hallway window, admiring the beauty of the the moon that reigned over the velvety cloak of the evening. Even as a little child, the moon had always seemed to intrigue her. How did it always know when to rise after the sun? How did it give off such a pure white light? Why was it so beautiful?

It was nights like these that Akame couldn't just simply ignore. It may not have been a full moon, but the view was majestic nonetheless: all of the stars were glittering amidst the moon's figure, which outshone every other thing that the eye could see. Unlike the sun's rays, the moon's light was much more subtle, more pure, making it all the more fascinating.

That is probably why as kids, despite their woes and pain, despite their hardships and heartache, she and Kurome loved to admire the moon every single night.

Akame shook her head. She needed to stop thinking about Kurome. They may have been sisters once, **but things have changed**.  They weren't on the same side anymore. If she didn't stop living in the past, if she didn't stop hoping for something that would never come true, she would only be consumed by her own self-desires.

 **That is when the battle would be lost.** That is when the revolution would lose the war all hope. That is when justice wouldn't prevail.

Akame headed back to her room in silence. Just like any other night, the breeze was cool and soothing to the skin. That is what she loved the most about staying at the base at night (aside from, of course, the wonderful view.) That way, she could recollect and think straight.

To think that it was only a few days ago that she herself killed the one and only captain of the Imperial Police, Ogre the Slasher. Known for being an expert swordsman, Ogre would often make deals within the black market, most of which involved the assassination and framing of many innocent civilians. He would double-cross many, but his skills defended him against both traitors and debtors alike.

 **Too bad that skill can't defend him against the gates of Hades itself.  
**  
Still, all it took was one single slice to the throat to end his horrible life. One single slice brought down one of the most fearsome men in the Empire underworld. One single slice is proof of how fragile life can be.

Just one single slice can end anyone's life, including her own.

Akame had always lived her life on the line, so it never really bothered her how easy it was to kill or be killed. Back at her training camp when she was a child, Akame witnessed the death of many kids her age, some even younger than herself. Most of them were killed during the horrifying tests that they undertook. Some of them died because of illnesses that could have been easily treated, if it weren't for the lack of medicine. A few of them decided to end all of the pain on their own accord.

Looking back at it now, she was fortunate to have survived the experience alongside Kurome. If they hadn't stuck together, both of them might have ended up dead early on. Ever since birth, Kurome was the only one who Akame truly loved and trusted. She was her only family.

But how the times have changed! Now Akame could only trust her comrades and nobody else. Better than just having faith in one person, but not better than having faith in Kurome. **The past Kurome, who trusted Akame back.** No matter how much Night Raid meant to her, **Kurome could never be replaced.**

As Akame entered her room and changed into her nightgown, she once again reflected on everything that had happened over the past few days. Ogre the Slasher, the boy...

The boy, although ordinary in almost every way, shape, and form, could never be removed from Akame's consciousness. His image just kept coming back to keep her, almost like a ghost haunting her at night. The innocence in his eyes. The regret throbbing from within his soul.

The anger in his spirit. That unquenchable thirst for vengeance. That little hint of confusion, of feeling lost. That little hint of Kurome.

If only Akame could somehow find out more about him. She just couldn't get him out of her mind. His childlike face bugged her single every moment of her day, as if it was a question waiting to be answered. If only she could speak to him. If only he could speak to her. If only...

Akame picked up a leatherback notebook lying on her bed. The cover was made of tough bear hide, yet the inside was filled with soft sheets of bamboo paper. Whoever had made this must have had a lot of hunting experience, as well as a considerable amount of knowledge on how to sew.

Maybe it wasn't made by just one person. Maybe it was made by the 3 people drawn on the first page.

As she had first observed a few days ago, the picture was of three friends around the same age as her (give or take one to two years.) The boy on the left was the most jovial, having spiky hair and sporting an energetic smile. The girl on the right was (according to the picture at least) astonishingly beautiful yet looked down-to-earth, with her silky black hair flowing down her back as her elegant face matched the shape of her wonderful smile. The most important out of all of them however, was the boy in the middle, with a smile so naïve and carefree that it seemed almost impossible in this day and age. Akame doubted that she herself could ever smile like that, amidst the troubles that plagued the Capital at least.

The next page that she turned to had a picture entitled "Sayo." It was a full body portrait of the girl on the first page, wearing a simple kimono dress with a flower hairpin stuck to the top of her head. The amount of detail that went into the drawing showed just how enthusiastic the artist was when he was making this portrait. They must have been really close friends (maybe even closer, Akame thought.)

The third page showed a fired-up, spiky haired boy holding two thumbs-up. He was also wearing a fleece jacket, jeans, and boots, as if he going on some sort of mountainous hike. The page was labeled "Ieyasu", and once again the amount of detail placed into the drawing showed just how close the subject was to the creator.

For a moment, Akame felt a hint of envy: how carefree some people from the province were despite what was actually going on in the Capital. Maybe it did all affect them though. They were just too carefree to notice.

The next few pages had pictures that weren't that important, and yet were of utmost importance. They were riddled with sketches of multiple people of different ages and forms. There were old men, fat women, cute babies and happy families. They all seemed to be wearing similar outfits, meaning that they were all probably from the same village. There were also magnificent studies of landscapes from the snowy mountainside, all of which gave Akame a bit more information about the boy's background. The fact that he took so much time to draw all of this showed just how much he cherished his hometown, all of it part of his identity as a simple teenage boy who came from a happy province from people whom he called family.

Now that Akame realized this, she felt guilty trying to pry open the secrets of his life. She did feel lucky though, as she realized that this single notebook was the only thing that truly mattered inside of the backpack. She had also stolen files of much more importance before, so simply being handed a lost drawing journal was practically nothing.

Even with the vast amount of drawings that were contained within the notebook, there was still room left for blank pages. There were only very few of them left however, leading Akame to wonder if the boy had ever thought of making a new one.

As Akame was about to close the journal, she noticed that despite the empty gap between the drawings and the leather cover, the last page already had a sketch on it. The picture was that of a small child with big cute eyes, walking gleefully in between what Akame guessed to be his two parents. Looking carefully, it was obvious that the kid was in fact the owner of the journal, considering that he looked like a tinier version of the boy she saw that night.

What confused her the most though were the parents. Something that Akame had realized throughout all of the previous sketches was that even if they were lightly penciled in, they were extremely well detailed and natural, as if the artist knew how each and every one of them looked by heart. This wasn't the case with the parents however: there were erasures all around the picture, some of them revealing major changes in their appearance. At one point in time, the dad might have had a bowl haircut in substitute of the spiky hair which the drawing now had. The mom may have had much smaller eyes and there were confusing discrepancies in her height. Even their clothes were changed some time ago, with it being hard to distinguish what they were even wearing at the current moment.

There was a label at the bottom of the page. It read "My Parents."

Akame smiled. This kid still misses his parents, doesn't he? Even if he probably doesn't remember how they look like. Even if they are probably dead.

This wasn't shocking news though. It was normal for kids inside and outside of the Capital to lose their parents at an early age. Over the course of a thousand years, the Empire has just shriveled up and become a land filled with death and chaos. Those who actually got to live with their parents could be considered lucky.

Akame didn't care about this love however. After all, she never knew the feeling.  
The feeling of having parents who cared.

Now that she had finished reading the journal however, she realized that something was missing. The name...where was his name? There wasn't anything written on the cover of the book, nor was there on the first and last page.

As Akame placed the book on its side however, she saw that there was something written on the pages of the book itself. Using pencil, the boy had written his name on the side of the journal.

"Tatsumi" Akame read slowly, imprinting the name into her memory as she placed the book on top of a table in her room. As she quietly settled into bed, Akame tried to once again picture the boy named Tatsumi under the quiet moonlight, looking at her with pain in his eyes. Amidst the anger and bitterness, there was pain and sorrow. Sorrow which Akame wanted to soothe and pain which Akame wanted to ease, yet she knew that she couldn't even if she was given the chance.

After all, she was just a mere assassin. What good would killing do to comfort a broken heart?

As Akame silently counted rabbits in her head, she also recounted all of the dead: all she had lost, and all whom she sent on their way. Past targets, past allies, past comrades at that children's camp, past Night Raid members, Kurome...

 _"It is such a mysterious place, the land of tears."  
-Antoine de Saint-Exupery  
_

 **Glossary:  
** **rattan - kind of wood climbing plant; also known as "manila" or "malacca"; used to make sipa balls  
Sipa - sport wherein the players have to kick a ball back and forth; has many different variations; can be played alone  
**


	10. Operation: Revival (Pt I)

**Author's Notes (basically shitty reasons as to why I haven't been posting and some other crap):**

 **Yes, as you can see, I'M BACK FROM THE DEAD! AND I CAN TELL YOU, IT FEELS GOOD TO BE BACK!**

 **To be completely honest though, I was planning on placing a bunch of reasons here as to why I haven't been able to publish shit recently. Although I could mention work and personal problems and yada yada yada, making excuses for your own failure is pretty disgusting. I did have time, yet I procrastinated, afraid and doubtful if I had the "energy" or the "inspiration" to write. I didn't want my chapters to end up like the last two you see, as I felt that they were a bit (well, to be completely frank) UTTERLY STUPIDLY RUSHED AND CRAMMED (like so many of the other fanfics that I hate.)**

 **After all of that time though, I told myself "You know what? Fuck it. If you don't do it today, you'll never do it ever again." I remembered that the reason why the first few chapters were perfect in my eyes (despite being absolute cringe in the eyes of some of oh so many people) was because of how I didn't exactly plan everything extensively. I wrote just because I felt like it. I had just finished the anime a week or two prior, and being the first anime that I had watched in what felt like years, I absolutely loved it. It was flawed on so many levels, but I loved it so much. And all of the love that I had for the anime, I poured it all out into the work that I was spending so much time creating. Sure, I still did a few technical things such as proofreading, but not as much as the next few chapters because I didn't enjoy the technical as much as I did actually imagining the story, and although the grammar and sentence construction paled in comparison to the more recent chapters (sorry, but I'm OCD when it comes to grammar), overall it was so much better and so much more heartfelt.**

 **So I'm deciding to be that same guy that I was last year: passionate about what he was writing with zero fucks about how people would react. I don't mean the constructive criticism of course (because seriously, those that have been giving me criticism have actually helped me in terms of writing, and not just when it came to writing this story), but I mean that I won't worry as much as to the "cringe factor" due to how fantastical and childish everything sounds. After all, Akame ga Kill! is often labeled as childish by many critics, yet that is probably why a lot of us love it so much.**

 **I might rewrite the past few chapters (you know, the ones that I labeled as UTTERLY STUPIDLY RUSHED AND CRAMMED) some time in the future (if I don't procrastinate it until the end of time that is), but I think that my main focus should be on what I actually write in the future chapters. I already have a bit of an outline, and considering how lengthy it is, I want to get to at least the end of ACT III before the end of June (I don't want to rush it though). Despite what I said before and despite what I thought was impossible, I have changed the progression and outcome of the entire story. I have the OCs to blame for that, but maybe it was the fact that I was too limiting when I was coming up with the original idea for how the story went, making it so that it was as close to the original anime plot as possible. For the sake of more logical character and plot development, the story is now pretty far off from the second canon, but I think that it is better this way.**

 **I have also started to read more manga and watch more anime, a lot of which will have a big influence on what I write. I finished Code Geass last March (here comes the hate) and I started to read Pokemon Adventures around the same time. I also just started reading the manga of Akame ga Kill! (shit, more hate!), and although I don't think that I'll be incorporating the elements from the manga into my story (again, this is based off of the anime), I don't know why, but I love the characters of Air, Fal, and Luna so much (some could even say... to the point of death :p), so you might see them in the near future.**

 **Anyways, that was too much blabbering, even for a guy like me. So to formally start things off again…**

 **WELCOME TO ACT II OF AKAME GA KILL! DISTORTION!**

 **-WritingAmateur0604**

* * *

 **ACT II: Turn to the Darkness**

 **Chapter 1**

 **Operation: Revival**

" _ **Humans: they are simultaneously the strongest and most foolish creatures in the entire world. Despite how much they claim to hold more wisdom than the oldest beast, their judgment is so easily swayed by mere emotion. They fight amongst themselves with anger and hate with causes as mere facades for the vengeance that they hide, to the point that they lose themselves to their own feelings. In the end, they are just like the Danger Beasts, only that the Danger Beasts can't lie to the ones they love."**_

The rays of the morning light seeped in through the curtains, revealing the face of a teenage boy hidden under the thin linen covers. His sleeping face gave him the look of an innocent child, even if that was obviously not the case. He had been through harsher trials than most adults would dare to imagine, and frankly, he knew that these trials weren't going to stop.

 **Felix Kodoku** already knew that it was time for him to wake up. The sun's warmth on his belly and the light peering through the slits he called eyes were enough to tell him this. He just simply didn't want to get up.

Sure, he knew that he had to sooner or later. It wasn't because he was tired or lazy though. He was just hoping that maybe, just maybe, if he fell asleep once again, he would then wake up to realize that this was all just a stupid dream.

After a few more minutes, Felix realized that he was indeed set in reality, that he was really lying down in a wooden bed too small for his size, that the mellow scent of burning coal and hot soup was gradually wafting into the small cobblestone room, that he was really living a life without meaning.

A life without meaning. Felix didn't know what made him think of such a thing at that moment, but it nevertheless made him sigh.

Getting up from his bed, his feet touched the cold stone floor as he began to walk towards the closet in the corner of the room. Opening it, one could see that aside from two pairs of clothing and his police uniform (which he began changing into), the wooden apparatus housed a small rounded mirror. After changing, Felix had a habit of gazing into his reflection, examining any little changes that his face underwent.

Like most other days, however, all that stared back at Felix was a pathetic-looking teenager with a plastered-on joyous look. If it wasn't for his heterochromia, it was as if he were just some stereotypical hyper-energetic side character ripped right out of a comic book, his only purpose being to support the main character for a few scenes before being uselessly killed off for not having enough importance, for not having any noticeable intentions and goals that he could actually accomplish.

At that moment, Felix felt a sting in his heart. He hated himself for how useless he had become, for how meaningless his life had become. Just like everybody else, he had become lost trying to accomplish his dreams and has decided to settle for a life that was neither fulfilling nor filled with despair, but one that was comfortable. He had given up his ambitions for his survival, not because it was the right thing to do, but because it was the easier thing to do, and he wasn't proud of it.

Felix had tried convincing himself time and time again that he had to do something more valuable than simply living out a regular life, but time and time again he was met with the same conclusion: he simply didn't have the power to do what he dreamed of. The Empire's injustice? He couldn't fight that: thousands have tried and thousands have died trying. The Revolutionary Army? He was only one man, he wasn't an army.

Then again, he was part of the police force, so he should be able to do something, right? But even Felix knew that due to him simply being a normal commoner (a mere teenager at that), there was no way that he could end forces as strong as Night Raid or the Empire even with his experience. In this world, one has to know their place if they don't want to be devoured. After all, it is a dog-eat-dog world: the strong eat the weak who dare to challenge their authority.

"If only I had power," Felix thought to himself, although he knew that it was a meaningless dream. In the world of the Empire, power is something that one is born with, not something that is earned. Felix hated that way of living: he believed that nature always meant to have it such that power was received through trials and experience, through despair and the drive to suffer to get stronger.

He had to face reality however: in this cruel society, no matter how much you suffer, you will always be a slave to the nobles. Birthright determined your standing, not your will to live.

And as a commoner who has accepted this as fact, Felix's former drive to fight and become stronger has now been quelled, his purpose lost in time as he passively accepts what he is given in life. He now accepts indulgence when he is presented with such, and experiences suffering when it passes it by, but he has stopped looking for either one. He has grown tired of chasing after ideals and has come to accept the truth.

Maybe that is why he was so attracted to Seryu and her drive for justice. Unlike some of the other girls that Felix knew, Seryu wasn't so interested in things such as money or looks. To her, birthright meant nothing and material wealth was meaningless. While his subordinates talked about crushes, a lot of whom had crushes on him yet could never muster up the courage to tell him ("If you don't have the resolve to ask, then why bother!?" Felix would always think to himself), Seryu relentlessly acted day and night upon her goals, mustering up all of her might to fight for justice. Can you believe that? Justice! She sacrificed her comfort every single day and was willing to do what others wouldn't, not for her own pleasure or for future security and comfort, but for a completely abstract concept. She did the unrealistic, all for an ideal! She literally devoted her life to the equal treatment of everybody around her!

Felix had just finished equipping his uniform when he started thinking about Seryu, and he immediately smiled. He admired her resolve to fight and he wanted to be with her, as it was something so different from what he witnessed with those trapped within the status quo. Would he find his purpose and willpower to fight once again by staying by her side? Felix didn't know, but maybe it was that wishful thinking that made him stick with her day-by-day, that made him want to stay with her all of his life. Due to his own lack of purpose, he had just fallen madly in love with someone whom many would consider to be strange (some would even go as far as to call her "crazy"), but who had a life more meaningful than all of the rest. For at the very least, she had something to fight for.

At the same time though, there were moments when Felix felt that Seryu was too idealistic for the good of her own goals. For example: just the night before, she had called him to an urgent meeting with Tatsumi to discuss plans to revive "Operation Nightfall." He should have already expected her to suggest the idea sooner rather than later due to Ogre's recent death, but he still couldn't believe what he was being told.

"She's seriously thinking about trying to destroy Night Raid once again!?" There is a reason why they're the most infamous assassination group in the Capital. They weren't just simple commoners such as Seryu and Felix, and they especially weren't normal country bumpkins like Tatsumi. Sure, Seryu has Koro as her Imperial Arm and Felix is a top-class fighter (actually, he didn't know of Tatsumi's credentials yet), but in terms of virtual power, they couldn't even come close to these highly-trained killing machines.

Realistically, there were many reasons why they shouldn't have even considered the idea of fighting Night Raid head on in secret. For one, if Felix and Tatsumi joined this operation, there would only be three of them. Out of the three of them, only Seryu had an Imperial Arm, and although Felix knew that fighting power shouldn't be measured based on the weapon alone, he knew that it would take much more than normal weapons to take out any one of these monster-like assassins.

Heck, they didn't even know how many assassins Night Raid had! Only 4 were seen by live witnesses (emphasis on live), and not enough information was available in order for one to actually battle them prepared.

Seryu had argued that they could simply do what they did a few years back: with Felix being a highly-trusted member of the police force, he would occasionally "borrow" records and equipment to suit their needs. It may have been reckless, but they were able to get some vital information that helped them to track down where Night Raid could strike next, along with some things to watch out when battling them.

Even so, Felix had to admit, he didn't want to go through the trouble of stealing yet again. It was so troublesome, not to mention how many times he was almost caught. The information was also limited to that within the files of the police, so not anything could effectively end them such as the location of their base.

And so what if they found Night Raid's base? If Seryu knew where their base was, she would probably ask the trio to "end it once and for all", although Felix knew that doing a sneak attack against possibly 10 or more assassins was pretty suicidal (not to mention outright stupid.)

"If only they had power…" While the Night Raid had the Revolutionary Army, this little squad of theirs would have no military or army-like support. So why couldn't they just stick to serving the police to the best of their abilities? The police were already trying to track down the culprits, and although it may take some time due to red tape and internal corruption and underfunding and how it wasn't exactly their priority as the Capital's police force ("Hunting down Night Raid is mainly a military thing," they would always say), they were much more equipped than these three teenagers. No matter what Seryu thought, Felix himself knew that in the real world, drive wasn't necessarily everything. If that was the case, then Felix could've already done so much more.

And yet, despite explaining all of these things to Seryu, she was still determined to make this happen. She would stop at nothing to deliver justice. It was so stupid; the stupidest thing that he had heard in a long time! But no matter what he said, she could not give up on her goals and ideals, even if they were unrealistic and ultimately suicidal.

"She's serious," Felix thought. "She won't take no for an answer," he thought. "She's out of this world. She's naive. She's driven 'til death…"

"And that's why I love her."

"Isn't that the reason why I love her? Because she's willing to dream the impossible dream? And not just dream like most of the useless bastards who never do anything about it, but actually have the resolve to fight for it? To do something about it, even if it means death?"

It of course wasn't just love or admiration that motivated Felix to take Seryu up on her offer. At the end of the day, Felix did hate the fact that their safety was in the hands of some corrupt leaders and their armies who didn't do anything that helped the people most of the time. It did comfort him to know that he would be directly attacking the source of a lot of problems, thus giving him some control over his survival and future (even if it meant going to the frontlines himself) instead of leaving some things up to chance. It was sometimes better to know and deal with what was going on instead of not knowing at all, even if it meant losing that sense of ignorant bliss.

Or maybe it really was just wholehearted love that made him agree. He knew that Seryu was one-of-a-kind and as of the moment when he was asked by her, he cared for her more than anybody in the world. Considering how serious Seryu was, even if Felix or Tatsumi didn't choose to agree, she would probably go on a one-woman manhunt against each and every member of the assassination group, even if she knew that she was no match for all of them. Koro surely gave her an advantage, but Felix himself could still beat her one-on-one if he was serious, and these assassins were probably way better than Felix was.

The thought of leaving Seryu to deal with such monsters alone, the thought of her dying alone without anyone to comfort her, without anyone to tell her that her beliefs weren't in vain. **The thought of her giving up her hopes and dreams…**

Felix refused to accept that. If she died, then all hope was lost. Not only his hope, but the hope of change within the Capital. It may have sounded absurd, but as it was as of the moment, she was the only one who had the motivation to dream big and actually resolve to do the impossible. She was what the Capital needed. It was what he needed. **He needed to protect her, even if it meant dying for her and her cause.**

Felix knew that this wasn't the entire story though. Whilst they started discussing primary objectives and initial plans, along with their training regiment (to be headed by yours truly due to his amount of experience), Felix felt a nagging feeling which he hadn't felt in quite some time.

The feeling that maybe this was his chance to carry out his plans wasn't as invigorating or as strong as the feeling of hope, and although it had tinges of anticipation and longing, it wasn't something that could be described using any of these words.

Yet it was there, emerging from the deep recesses of his heart to bug him, to tell him that with this absurd idea, maybe, just maybe, he would be able to do what he had always wanted to do. He would be able to do what he was always born to do. **He would be able to kill who he was destined to kill, and from that shape his entire future.**

"Felix! Are you going to stay there all morning!? You still have work to do!"

Felix snapped out of his trance on the bedside. Reminiscing about the events of the day before sure made him realize how crazy his life might soon become. Not that he didn't like crazy; it was better than simply being normal after all.

Looking into the mirror as he placed on his brown-colored contacts, Felix smiled at how pathetic he now looked. His smile was childlike as if to reinforce his goofy appearance, but maybe it was better that way. Besides, if you looked like an innocent child, it would be harder for people to suspect you of anything, right? After all, despite his looks, Felix had done some pretty nasty things in the past…

"Wait for me sister," Felix said to himself, looking right into the mirror to see the conviction in his face. "When I get strong enough, and when the time is right…"

" **I'll come right for you head."**

* * *

 **I hope that you enjoyed this first chapter of ACT II, despite it being psychological (to a certain degree, since I'm not that experienced when it comes to writing about psychological conflict.) I just felt like this was the proper way to introduce Felix as a character who has an ambiguous past while still showing the readers that he really is a nice guy (trust me, he is.) To be completely honest though, I was originally planning for him to be more fucked up than Seryu, but then I realized that it was a stupid idea in the long run so I made him the exact opposite (likewise making him the opposite of a stupid and shallow character and thus changing the outcome of multiple events in the future, or at least that is what I want.) He is still pretty messed up though. Just bear that in mind (although let's be honest here, everybody was fucking insane in AGK!)**

 **Anyways, I won't make promises that I can't keep, so I'm saying it right here and right now: I can't publish chapters on a regular basis. It takes me approximately 6 hours to finish a chapter (because I'm a perfectionist that way), and that is when I feel motivated to write and actually know what I'm going to write. There are really just some days that I'm braindead.**

 **The next chapter will be released immediately, however, as it was originally supposed to be part of this chapter. I just separated it so that one chapter wouldn't be so long. It also makes my time table a bit more flexible to clean up any imperfections that I see in both chapters.**

 **Now, the problem is the chapter after that…Nah we'll cross that road when we get there. Anyways, have a pain and death-free day (unless of you're a masochist, in which I hope that you experience as much pain as possible)!**


	11. Operation: Revival (Pt II)

**ACT II: Turn to the Darkness**

 **Chapter 2**

 **Operation: Revival (Pt. 2)**

"Felix! Are you going to stay there all morning!? You still have work to do!"

As soon as he entered the dining room on the first floor, Felix was met by the hot and aromatic blast of freshly-cooked chicken soup just emanating from its spot on the wooden table. Looking to the side of the room, he saw a woman tasting liquid from two small cauldrons (the contents of which Felix presumed to be chicken and fish soup) as they were heating up over a fireplace. Her frustrated look showed that she wasn't satisfied with the taste of either, adding in tiny amounts of different seasonings and ingredients every now and then. She was so engrossed in her work that Felix would have thought that she hadn't noticed him slowly walking to the dining table if it weren't for her kind morning greeting.

"How's it going sweetheart?" the woman asked sweetly, momentarily pausing to turn around and throw a smile in Felix's direction. Her face may have been flat, old and wrinkled with moles on either side, but her ugliness didn't do anything to hinder the warmth that immediately spread across the room.

"If you were talking about my sleep Aunt Sophie, then it was alright." Unlike when talking to some other people, Felix didn't have to force a smile when talking to his foster parent. Her motherly aura made it so easy to talk to her, so easy that it just made you want to smile.

"Oh don't be like that Felix," Aunt Sophie chuckled, "I keep on telling you: it's okay if you call me mother."

Felix smiled to himself as he took a seat and began to serve himself some soup. No matter how motherly Aunt Sophie really was, Felix just couldn't bring himself to calling her his parent. After all, one of the only things that still connected him to his past life was his lack of a proper family.

Well, there was that one person whom he considered to be his brother, but there was no chance that they would see each other ever again. His sister on the other hand…

"Where's Uncle Kole?" Felix asked, trying to get things off of his mind.

"He just went out to get something," Aunt Sophie said before she sipped a bit of the soup in the first pot. "He'll be back shortly though. He does have a forgery to run after all."

The house which Felix lived in was a small and simple two-storey building made of brick and cobblestone. The top floor had two bedrooms: one for him and one for his Aunt Sophie and Uncle Kole. The ground floor was split up into two main parts. The southern area was a mix between a dining room and a kitchen, with it simply having a wooden dining table, a sink, a counter, and a fireplace that could heat up many dishes simultaneously.

The northern area of the floor was completely different from the rest of the house though. Extending outwards on three sides to make their house slightly irregularly-shaped, this portion was dedicated to "Hammer and Soup", the couple's little shop and livelihood. Not only did it act as a forgery for all kinds of common metalwork, but it also served as a diner open to the common man for anybody who wanted some fresh soup. Although the mixing of these two concepts into one shop shouldn't have worked, the couple was somehow able to pull it off. With Kole being one of the best blacksmiths in town and with Sophie's special soup being one-of-a-kind, the shop was usually jampacked as soon as it opened at 7 AM.

Speaking of which...quite a few people were beginning to line up outside of the house. "The shop should open soon," Felix thought, "I wonder where-"

Felix suddenly remembered what he had to do. How could he forget!? Was he still more sleepy than he thought he was!?

The increasing amount of people outside of the door meant that it was almost 7. **He was almost late for work.**

Felix hurriedly glugged down his soup before chugging down a nearby glass of water. He then rushed over to Aunt Sophie and hugged her goodbye (if he couldn't call her mom, at the very least he could show her some love) before dashing out of the front door.

Despite the distance between him and the police force's operation center, with his inhuman speed, Felix could make it to work with about 2 minutes to spare if he ran as fast as he could. He had to make sure that he wasn't late that day, especially since a special general assembly was to be held in response to the recent death of their Captain Ogre. Yet if he knew what he was heading towards, it wouldn't hurt to be a few minutes late.

* * *

The flaming sun had just risen into the clear blue sky as Felix barely made it to the station on time. He had to run all the way from his house to the station, but he still made sure to regulate the energy he used so that he wouldn't be too tired for work.

Signing in his attendance, he breathed a sigh of relief. "40 more seconds," he thought as he checked the wall clock. If he did in fact arrive late to work, he wouldn't hear the end of it from the higher-ups.

As he was about to head inside for the general assembly, however, a familiar voice reached his ears.

"Felix, how might you be doing?"

Turning around, Felix was faced with the giant of a man. With the face of a lion and the body of a Danger Beast, his white mangy hair ran all the way down the back of his head. There was only 1 police officer with that much white hair.

"Officer Gudmund. I'm doing...fine, sir."

He truly was a spectacle to look at: white tufts of hair extended down his temples and bridged to form a thick beard at the end of his chin. Although his nose was long and prominent, his chubby cheeks and his old wrinkled smile made him look more like an ordinary cheery old man. His wide brown eyes were the kindest you would ever see, yet Felix knew that they were sharper than anyone else's, always searching for something, searching for a weakness, searching for an opening. He was, after all, the head of the Imperial Police's Covert Operations Department as well as their Chief Archiver.

Gudmund raised an eyebrow, his spectacles leaning a bit to his left. "'Fine' isn't a very articulate term officer Felix, but I would like to think that now isn't the most opportune of times to discuss such insignificant matters, don't you think?" With that he smiled, his grin almost reaching the tips of his ears as his pearly white teeth gleamed in the sunlight.

Felix hated it when Gudmund smiled. No, it wasn't like the slight annoyance he felt when Ogre smiled, for he smiled when he was about to punish someone or when he was proud of an achievement of his, these two sometimes coinciding in the weirdest of ways. Gudmund was a different case altogether. Considering how fine-tuned his instincts were, few things put him on high alert more than Gudmund's demonically cartoonish smile. It wasn't because of what it meant, but rather because he didn't know what it meant. His wide smile could mean numerous things, a lighthearted joke to a serious threat, yet you wouldn't know what it meant because of how unpredictable the officer was.

He was a genius at mind games, if not a man at the edge of lunacy.

Felix couldn't let the officer know of his unrest however. He had to keep his composure, something which he luckily was extremely experienced in. "No sir, it isn't. Now if you'll excuse me sir, I have to get going-"

Just as Felix was about to leave, a gigantic palm the size of a frying pan found its way onto his shoulder. It had no grip, but it immediately stopped the officer in his tracks. "Shit," he thought, "Did I-"

"Now now Felix, no need to get your pants up in a twist." It was Gudmund's low and somber voice that echoed into his ears. Felix could feel the man's deep breathing from right behind his earlobe, not to mention the petrifying aura that was emanating from every cell of the man's body. "I merely wish to speak with you for a moment. Would that be alright?"

"But sir," Felix replied firmly, turning back towards the giant, "'It is the duty of every officer to arrive-"

"to the assembly on time', yes yes I know, but that is such a trivial matter! Your tardiness wouldn't even be a problem if handled by…hmmmm…let's say...someone of my standing, yes?" Gudmund chuckled, sending shivers down Felix's spine.

"But sir," Felix tried to reason, "you know very well that this assembly is very special right? Considering that we'll-"

"Be choosing a new Captain, correct?" Once again, Felix's senior had read his mind. " **Well, that wouldn't be such a problem if I told you who it was, now would it?** "

Told him? Told him who the new Captain was!? Despite being one of the highest ranking officers in the force, he wasn't invited to the special council held yesterday afternoon regarding who the new Imperial Police Captain would be. It was probably because he was the second youngest amongst those who were regularly part of the council, aside from it being declared a non-working "day of grieving" for all of those who were part of the task force (except for a few much older or important exceptions of course.) In terms of roles, Felix was also just the Assistant Combat Training Officer, so he wasn't exactly seen as "integral" perse.

Then again, Captain Ogre was simply the Chief Combat Training Officer, and yet he was still chosen as the previous Captain. Was it Ogre's money or friends? Or was it just that he had a much better reputation in the Capital than the lower-ranking police officer?

Nevertheless, Felix couldn't control his curiosity as possibilities began to litter his mind. Who could it be? Who would dare take on the mantle as new leader of the police force? Could it be Officer Grant? He was the head of the Junior Imperial Police Division, and his charisma and easy-going attitude did in fact make him loved by everybody. Could it be Dr. Johannes? He was the twin brother of the Empire's own infamous inventor Dr. Stylish, but he was more introverted and (thankfully) a lot less gay, not to mention that he was in charge of the Science and Research Development branch of the police force. Still, Felix doubted that a genius as valuable as Johannes would be forced to split his time between his duties as a scientist and as a newly appointed leader, not to mention him being way too shy to represent them as a beacon of hope and safety for the people.

Or could it be…

Cogs started to work in his brain as Felix started to piece things together, his alert status going from that of cautious to that of high alert.

"No, that's not possible. Wait, why not? I mean...but are you su-Of course I'm not sure!"

"But why else would he ask you to stay for just a little while longer?"

"Ta-da!" Officer Gudmund said gleefully, now presenting himself to Felix with his arms wide open. " **You're looking right at him.** "

"Shit."

Felix was frozen to his place, unable to open his mouth in reply. The national anthem played nearby as part of their general assembly as if he were being mocked by the world. He still couldn't believe what he was hearing: Gudmund, head of Covert Operations, the Chief Archiver, was becoming the new Captain of the Imperial Police!? A 50-year-old man who hadn't practiced combat in years was now going to lead an entire army of field agents!?

But that's when Felix remembered the smile, the smile of mystery, the smile that never failed to fill him with dread. Now he realized the real reason why he didn't want Gudmund in charge. It was a lie to think that he wasn't charismatic or fit to be a leader, it was a lie to think that he didn't have the experience. In fact, out of everyone in the Police Force, he probably had the most experience in when it came to leading troops, considering how successful he was as current head of Covert Operations and, according to stories from the former Captain Ogre, one of the best tactical geniuses the Empire has ever produced. He was subtle but strong-willed, charismatic yet cunning, and with his near 30 years of service for both the army and the police, he was probably the "no-brainer" decision for deciding the next head of the force.

No, it wasn't because Felix feared what Gudmund was incapable of doing; rather, it was because he feared what Gudmund was capable of. Gudmund had always triggered his survival instincts whenever they talked, and although he didn't know the reason for it, from the moment that they met, he had always known that this man was dangerous. He knew what the man could become, or rather he didn't know how crazy or fearsome or how much of a threat the man could become, and as much as he didn't want to admit it, for the first time in years...

 **He felt a tiny bit scared.** It wasn't anxiety or dread or any other similar emotion; it was only a little drop of fear, but experiencing an emotion that one had forgotten about was enough to make one besides himself.

Gudmund chuckled when he sensed Felix's shock, despite it being nearly completely hidden under the teenager's emotionless face. "What? Are you surprised, Officer Felix? That reaction's a tad bit insulting, you know."

Felix was surprised by Gudmund's keen sense of observation. "Fuck," he thought, "How did he-"

"Sorry sir, I didn't mean to be rude." Felix tried to sound as apologetic as possible, even going as far as to bow a little. "I just found it a bit surprising that you were chosen amongst all of the other possible...candidates"

"I'll accept your apology, although I can't say that I'm not hurt, Officer Felix." A wry smile crawled upon the face of the new Captain, making him look like some sort of serene old grandpa.

"But sir-"

"'Captain', Officer Felix; we have to follow proper decorum."

"But Captain, how about your roles as both the head of the Covert Operations Division and as the Chief Archiver?"

"Well, you see, I've been thinking about that…" The smile was still plastered on the Captain's face as he stroked his chin and pondered upon the question. "One thing's for sure though: I still want to keep my position as head of Covert Operations. Maybe I'll just have to ask Johannes to take over as Chief Archiver. Yeah, that fits together nicely, doesn't it?"

Felix nodded in reply despite it not being proper practice, although he doubted that Gudmund would mind at this point.

"Speaking of which," Gudmund added trivially, "did you know that Dr. Stylish is going to be helping the Imperial Police for the time being? Conversations with him are always so fruitful, not to mention how much he was able to accomplish the last time he was here."

Felix responded positively to Gudmund, but he was starting to groan on the inside. Not only was Gudmund the new Captain, but Dr. Stylish was coming back!? "Boy," he thought, "time will start to get slower from here on out…"

Seeing that the Captain was just babbling on at this point, Felix decided that he should take his leave. "Well, it's been a pleasure talking to you si-I mean, Captain. Congratulations by the way on becoming the new head of the Imperial Police Force. Now if you'll excuse me-"

"Woah, slow down there Felix. I'm not yet done." Gudmund now reached out towards the escaping Felix and gripped his shoulder with strength unbefitting of a 50-year-old. It was as if he were some sort of mythological mix between a lion and a gorilla.

Felix, having just realized that he was afraid of a 50-year old man who was best friends with a crazy homo, was now more annoyed than anything. "Whaddya gonna do?" he thought. "Present more bad news? Waste more of my time?"

"I almost forgot to tell you just one little thing." He placed a heavy emphasis on the word "little", as if what he was going to say wasn't going to be "little" at all.

Felix turned his shoulders once again to face the elder. "Seriously, what is his problem!? What is so important that-"

" **I'm appointing you as the new Combat Training Officer.** "

Silence swept the hallway aside from the announcements that were being made in the distance. Nothing moved except for a silent breeze that blew on the hairs of both of the officers. For a few seconds, no words were exchanged between the two. They just stared into each other's eyes.

Of course it was natural for the assistant to take over in the rare case that the head couldn't continue his duties, and the position of "Combat Training Officer" wasn't necessarily a prestigious one, but considering his age along with his...questionable background, nobody in their right mind would allow someone like Felix to have a high position in the Police Force.

And yet here was Captain Gudmund, a man he loathed, giving him an opportunity that he never imagined was possible for someone who was practically an enemy of the state.

"Thank you sir-Captain Gudmund. This truly means...a lot to me." Felix was too dumbfounded to think straight, both happy that he had accomplished one of his dreams but filled with hate by how his dream was reached due to the man that he despised the most. He should've expected the unpredictable from Gudmund. After all, the new Captain wasn't exactly in the right state of mind.

Captain Gudmund simply smiled before turning his back on the boy. "You're probably wondering," the Captain asked in a cheerful tone, "why I chose you despite all of the unwanted prejudice against you. Well, first of all, as you should know by now, I am not a man of prejudice. I trust logic and instinct over social construct, and to be honest, I think that a boy of your capabilities deserves to not be judged based on his past alone. Secondly, however, aside from your discipline and wit, there is a more important reason for this sudden promotion…"

Gudmund was already at the other side of the hallway when he stopped to give Felix a devilish glance. Felix decided to stick to his spot, knowing that the Captain might have found it rude if Felix tried to move elsewhere.

"As I've been able to uncover, your records don't exactly portray you in a good light. Despite you trying to lay low and becoming an outstanding citizen, you find it hard to run away from your past. The Empire and in the current context the Police Force is already very discriminative against people of your blood; what more if they found out who you really were? As such, becoming a high-ranking officer must mean so much to you, no?"

Felix simply stared back into the cold eyes of the Captain, whose face he sensed was already starting to form a sly grin. There was a moment of silence before the Captain continued.

"Now, if that information were to somehow find its way into the hands of the people? They would probably throw you out of town, wouldn't they? But imagine if that same information found its way to, oh I don't know, say…The Prime Minister! What do you think the Imperial Court would do? Or no, they would probably force the Police Force to do the barbaric things that they do to criminals like you. What was that execution called again? Ah yes, **public crucifixion.** "

Again, Felix answered with silence. He knew that giving this man any opportunity to take advantage of him was only going to spell trouble, but he didn't know how long it still was before he reached his boiling point.

"Honestly, whilst I was reading your case Felix, I couldn't believe that a single man-no, a single boy even, could become the enemy of the Empire, the Revolutionary Army, and the people! You're a wanted man with absolutely no sanctuary! So, that begs the question: **How are you still alive?** "

Felix knew that the information that Gudmund boasted about could just be a bluff, that somebody could have just tipped him off about him being a wanted man. Then again, if somebody did tip him off, how much did he tell him? How would Gudmund know that he was the enemy of everybody without hearing first of his entire past?

"Don't worry though Felix: your secret is safe with me. That is, if you do everything I tell you to do."

Felix hated himself for being so gullible. That was what Captain was after all! By placing an officer that he could blackmail into an integral position, he would have more control over the entire task force than he should have. At this point, Felix simply wondered why he wasn't placed into a more influential position: was it because the other head members would become suspicious, or was it because other more vulnerable officers were in Gudmund's grasp?

No, not possible. **With his secrets, he was the most vulnerable.**

Felix was right all along. This time, the Captain's smile did have ulterior motives behind it. It always did.

"Oh, and don't think that 'everything' encompasses only what you do when you're on duty, oh no no no! I also heard something from Captain Ogre a while back, something about a little 'operation' that you do with that Seryu girl that you like…"

Felix couldn't help but widen his eyes in shock. "Wait...he knew all this time!? But that means…"

"What I'm trying to say," the Captain said, his face now blatantly boasting an evil grin, "is that if whatever you and that girl are trying to achieve gets in my way, Felix Kodoku, your luxurious life here in the Capital, along with everything that you hold dear, will be taken away by everybody around you, without me ever having to lay a single finger on your body."

Felix wanted to scream out as his face began to slowly contort in anger. "How can you-How dare you," he thought to himself. "Someday, you'll pay for this!"

The Captain meanwhile, was now beginning to chuckle, finding Felix's agony to be extremely satisfying. "Goodbye Felix, I'll see you at the assembly. You are, after all, 10 minutes late."

"Oh, by the way, one last thing." Gudmund's body was already halfway round the corner when he comically stopped on his right leg. "That friend of yours? **Tatsumi** , was it? Well, I assume that he's a friend of yours considering that he's close to your girlfriend. He came to me personally yesterday after the council meeting had finished. Although my assessment of him isn't exactly official, please tell him that his skills are already enough to place him a rank above the newbies. He still has to take the necessary examinations tomorrow though: I'll be considered biased if I accepted him without due process, am I right?"

Gudmund guffawed after the last sentenced as he strode off towards the assembly area. After all of that, however, all that Felix could feel was undying dread.

* * *

 **DAMN that turned out surprisingly well! Although the previous chapter had to be almost completely re-written a couple of times, this chapter was already practically done by late January to early February. Even after 3 months, however, I barely had to change the bulk of the chapter's content (aside from a small addition to the start of the chapter, which introduced some new OCs because I'm now drunk on the idea of creating new characters).**

 **I promise that the next chapters will be way more action-packed than this one, although they may also be way longer than anything that I have ever written in my entire life, not to mention how many OCs that I may/will include. Despite how I used to hate OCs, this story has just become so hard to write without introducing new characters because of how Tatsumi is now living a different life. He ain't part of Night Raid anymore; he's part of the Seryu Squad! (name subject to change)**

 **I also now have plans for Air, Fal, and Luna. Legitimate plans, not just stray thoughts (although when writing fanfictions, they are practically the same). They will actually be given the chance to fight for themselves! Well, actually, not really, but mostly… Meh, I'm okay with what I'm going to be putting them through, so you hopefully will be too once the time comes.**

 **If I have the time, I may also choose to re-write the previous chapters to lessen the amount of crammed information. So basically, I may remove certain plot points from the previous chapters just so that it's easier to read for newer readers. What am I doing with my free time…**

 **I don't want to delay any further, so with that, I bid thee farewell!**

 **El. Psy. Congroo. [Insert random anime reference here]**

 **-WritingAmateur0604**


	12. Operation: First Blood (Pt 1)

…

…

…

 **Alright! Alright! I'm sorry! This chapter was originally meant to introduce key characters into the plot, but I became a bit too excited and placed a bit too much.**

 **Okay, a bit more than "a bit".**

 **Yeah, this introduction seems a bit too vague, but you'll understand as soon as you see how 1 chapter got extended into 3-4.**

 **I write way too much, don't I?**

 **-WritingAmateur0604**

* * *

 **Chapter 12**

 **Operation: First Blood (Prologue)**

 **The next day…**

"Ya-taaaah! I finally did it!"

Tatsumi walked out of the interrogation room, jumping for joy as he held his fist up high. Having just completed his final interview, he was now formally part of the Imperial Police Force, something which he had wished for the past few days following his rejection from the army.

After two afternoons of rigorous physical and mental examinations, his trials ended with a one-on-one meeting with the new Captain of Police, Captain Gudmund. It honestly wasn't so much of a meeting or an interview as it was a casual work-orientation session, but Tatsumi appreciated the time spent with the Captain due to how lighthearted their brief conversation was. He loved how warm and friendly the 50-year-old was, the man's kindness reassuring him that he had made the right choice when he chose to sign up as a safe keeper of the Empire.

"Thank you, Sayo. Thank you, Ieyasu. I wouldn't have gotten this far without you."

And in heaven, he imagined his friends looking down at him, their faces gleaming with pride as they smiled at how Tatsumi had taken on the full burden of saving their village. It would now be through him that their journey and hopes would carry on.

Exiting the compound of the Police HQ, Tatsumi decided to explore the city for a bit before heading back to Seryu's place. He had nothing else planned for the rest of the day, and Seryu was currently doing patrol duty so he wouldn't be able to see her until later anyway. "I've got time to spare," he thought, merrily strolling along without a care in the world.

As Tatsumi crossed the roads of even stone, he slowly began to understand the lifestyle of people in the Capital. Although there were some informal traders who walked around the streets selling their goods as they went, most of the merchants had their own permanent stalls and shops wherein they stayed in for the entire day. Tatsumi decided that this made it easier for people to find them, as finding a roaming person in the Capital was nearly impossible considering the amount of people that traversed the city in the daytime.

Aside from this, Tatsumi also observed from the various shops that practically nobody chose to do barter trade within the city. It was as if there was a common unspoken rule amongst the people to use the Imperial Pound as their one and only medium of exchange. In contrast, the people back at Tatsumi's village all chose to trade with goods instead of money, as all of the money earned was donated to the treasury by the end of the month in order to keep up with the increasing tax rates. "Maybe the people back at my village just trusted each other more," Tatsumi said to himself, thinking about how easily one could be swindled when it came to low-quality goods.

Then again, it was still pretty easy to swindle somebody even if you were using the Empire's currency. Just look at what happened to him…

Tatsumi felt his blood begin to boil as he remembered how easily he was tricked back then. Giving up all of his money on an informal deal? What was he thinking!? Of course that girl was a thief! Her revealing clothing should've been an obvious sign that she was a trap!

Tatsumi didn't know how to release his anger though, so he ended up releasing a heavy sigh. "Just how naive are you Tatsumi?" he asked himself in shame. "Do you really always need Sayo guiding you around the place?"

Suddenly, as he turned the corner, he was steamrolled by a burly man wearing a black facemask, his four other partners quickly following his trail. As the group of five began to get farther away, he noticed each of them carrying a case in their arms, every box differing in terms of shape and size. Judging by how some of them were falling behind, Tatsumi assumed that their cases also weren't of the same weight, meaning that they all must've contained different items.

Tatsumi had already jumped back up to his feet and was beginning to brush all of the dirt off of himself. "Geez! Who were those guys? They should be more careful, otherwise, they could seriously get someone hurt."

Before Tatsumi could continue walking, however, he was once again crashed into, this time by a more slender but much taller man. His head was once again sent crashing down onto the pavement, understandably enraging him as blood began to drip from his forehead.

Immediately, the boy turned around and snarled at the man, angry at how he and his friends had just run him over. "Now you listen here-"

That was when Tatsumi realized that unlike the other 5, the man right in front of him wasn't wearing a black facemask, instead sporting a worn-out leather jacket over a plain white t-shirt. His legs were slim and tall, his entire body lanky, starting from his box-shaped head to the tall boots on his feet. His thin face was a bit sullen, but it didn't stop him from giving a sincere, warm, and ultimately brotherly smile.

"Tatsumi? Is that you?" The man began to crouch down to Tatsumi's level, revealing lots of sweat and a few bleeding gashes at the side of his head. Even with the pain that he must've been going through, seeing Tatsumi again was probably enough to make him happy.

"Wait a second..." Tatsumi said loudly. That's when he remembered who the man was. Although they barely even talked when they first met, Tatsumi just couldn't forget one of the two brothers who saved him that day.

Tatsumi once again jumped up to his feet, looking at the man whilst grinning from ear-to-ear. "Haruki? Is that you?" Tatsumi asked just to make sure, causing the merchant's grin to grow even wilder.

"I'm so glad that you remember us," Haruki Nakamura said in reply, his soft-spoken nature keeping him from actually shouting for joy. The tension dissipated in a flash, with Tatsumi glad to know that this man was somebody whom he saw as a friend. Much to Tatsumi's surprise, Haruki then suddenly hugged Tatsumi for about a what seemed like a minute, making Tatsumi feel slightly uncomfortable in between the man's arms.

"So..." Tatsumi said awkwardly, indirectly telling Haruki to let go of his grip. "What's the rush?"

For a few seconds, Haruki stared into the sky, trying to remember what exactly he was doing. Suddenly, his face turned pale and he once again grabbed Tatsumi, this time gripping him tightly by the shoulders.

"Yikes! That hurts-"

"You've got to help us Tatsumi!" Haruki said exasperatedly, shaking Tatsumi back and forth. "A group of men just came into our shop and beat up big brother Haru! They've just run away with our newest treasures, and I was trying to catch them, but…"

Haruki stopped speaking as soon as he noticed Tatsumi staring off into the crowds on the streets. Without warning, Tatsumi burst into a sprint, attempting to track down the crooks who stole the livelihood of the Nakamuras.

* * *

"I knew that those 5 seemed fishy," Tatsumi thought to himself, clenching his teeth as he weaved in and out of the people who were filling up the roads. As it was still early in the afternoon, the populace that was out walking was still enough to make it hard to find somebody amidst the buildings and streets. "Well, in that case…"

Seeing a small enough alleyway to his left, Tatsumi took a sharp turn as he headed straight into the passage, wherein much to the surprise of some onlookers, he began to leap off of the two walls in order to scale to the top of the buildings. On the rooftops, Tatsumi now had an open space wherein he could run freely as he scanned the roads below freely in search of the group of thieves.

After a few seconds of running, the corner of his eye found the 5 entering a small pub near the end of a street. Tatsumi recognized the pub as the place where he was swindled by that blonde lady, triggering a slight annoyance within his system.

As Tatsumi hopped off the rooftops as subtly as possible, he entered the oakwood doors of the lively tavern. He was met by the clanking of mugs as people from different walks of life were laughing as they drank, none of them caring for the village boy who had just walked in. Despite being offered a new change of clothes by Seryu (which did bring up the question of whose clothes those were in the first place), Tatsumi decided to keep on wearing his woolen sweater and pants from the province purely for sentimental reasons, even if he knew that it would make him seem a bit out of place.

Trying to be inconspicuous, Tatsumi searched the ground floor for the group of thieves. He immediately found the group sitting at the center surrounding a round table, all of them eating some freshly-cooked food and telling stories to their hearts' content. Amongst all of the people in the establishment, their boisterous laughter was probably the loudest, with some of the other tables even listening to their interesting stories and enjoying tales of their journeys and whatnot.

Although they weren't wearing their facemasks anymore, Tatsumi knew that they were the ones he was looking for as he noticed the 5 cases carefully hidden under their table, the exact same cases that he saw the thieves carrying around just a few minutes before.

Approaching the table, Tatsumi meekly waved his hand as he tried to get their attention. "Uh, hello there guys. I'm Tatsumi. Nice to meet you."

Immediately, the five men stopped their storytelling, their joyous laughter and expressions becoming more serious as they all turned to look Tatsumi dead in the eyes. Tatsumi tried to smile cheesily in the hopes of easing up the heavy atmosphere. If anything, it just made him seem more suspicious.

The tension didn't just come from the five men though; the air of the entire tavern changed as all eyes were now focused on him. He had just interrupted the most entertaining thing in the pub that day, so people were naturally annoyed by his sudden disturbance, if not ultimately pissed off.

"Kid, if you got somethin' to say, I suggest spitting it out right now." It was the biggest of the thieves who stood up, his bulging biceps enforcing an aura of power as he towered over Tatsumi. He was naked from the waist up, revealing his red skin to have scars here and there, his red mohawk and circle beard making him look more like a thug than a quick-footed thief. It also didn't help Tatsumi's confidence to see that the man had an inhumanly-sized broadsword just sitting at his waist.

Considering the relatively smaller sizes of his companions, he was probably the "tank" of the group, meaning that he was just in charge of beating the shit out of people. He was also the man who ran into Tatsumi that morning.

"Uh yeah well, you see…" Tatsumi laughed nervously as he began to realize how precarious his situation was. He was standing alone in the center of a pub filled with burly men, all of whom were pretty pissed off at how he had ruined their fun.

"If you ain't got anything to say-"

"Okay, okay fine." Tatsumi took a deep breath before continuing. "I think that you five have something that belongs to a friend of mine."

Tatsumi could feel the tension rising as everybody's eyes began to pierce his soul. Although he didn't know just how strong these guys were, the pressure that was being focused on him was immense and began to worry him. He couldn't help but gulp as all of the five men lowered their beer mugs in order to focus all of their attention on him.

"What d'ya say boy?" The same burly man spoke up, his low voice ending with what sounded like a small growl.

"I-I think that you five have something, rather some things, that belong to a friend of mine. Ac-According to him, those five cases under your seat were stolen from his shop this morning."

Everybody in the tavern turned to look at the boxes. All except the big man, who was still staring straight into Tatsumi. His big round eyes were beginning to pop out of their sockets as what seemed like rage began to build up inside of him.

Out of the corner of Tatsumi's eye, he saw one of the four other thieves gulp and begin to sweat as he looked under the table, nervous that their secret would get exposed.

Then suddenly, out of nowhere, the big man began to laugh heartily, only nobody joined him unlike when he was still telling stories. "Are you accusing us of stealing these goods boy? Are ya? ARE YA!?"

"Uhhhh well...Yeah, I guess." Tatsumi's instincts were now telling him to run as he could feel the glares of everybody around him. "Too bad," he thought to himself, "but you've already gone too far to back out now. Besides, the Nakamuras seem to really need those goods."

The big man only continued to laugh. "Can you believe that Speedy? This boy thinks that we stole something from him!" He was addressing the scared thief who Tatsumi had noticed a while ago. The thief barely managed a weak laugh, but his nervousness was blatantly obvious. The big man tried to hide a glare at the thief before returning his gaze to Tatsumi.

"Well...do ya have proof boy? Innocent unless proven guilty. Or somethin' like that. Am I right?" He leaned in closer until his face was barely 2 inches away from Tatsumi's, his greedy smile threateningly contrasting his serious eyes, as if he were silently telling Tatsumi to back off.

Although Tatsumi was nervous, as a police officer, Tatsumi realized that he would have to be strong in situations such as these. There would probably be more predicaments like this to come in his near future. "If I can't stand alone against a single thug," Tatsumi thought, "how can I help bring justice to an entire Empire?"

"Sir, what's your name?" Tatsumi asked courteously but with an air of confidence, something that bewildered a lot of the people there.

"My friends call me Hada, but you can call me anything that you like and I still won't answer to accusations from little shits like you."

"Well, Sir Hada," Tatsumi addressed him politely. "You and your 4 other companions are to be taken to questioning under accusations of theft and battery. Please come with me to the Police Station immediately."

The tension within the entire tavern thickened, but it didn't seem to faze Tatsumi, who's face was just starting to form a small grin. He thought that since he technically was already a police officer, he might as well start doing his job.

The brief look of shock that everybody in the tavern wore was priceless, but the mood dissipated quickly as everybody began to rise from their seats with raw anger emanating from all over their bodies. Tatsumi readied his hand on the handle of his blade just in case it came down to a fight.

"So you're a police officer eh?" Hada said mockingly. "Hey everybody, it's a policeman who's doing his job!"

Suddenly, everybody in the bar began to laugh out of their chests, tears came dripping down some of their eyes. It only took a few seconds, however, and soon everybody had ended their sarcastic laughter and focused their glares once again onto Tatsumi.

"Well, sorry to say kiddo, but we don't deal well with policemen." Hada cracked his oversized knuckles with clenched teeth. Standing where he was, he then spat at Tatsumi's shoes in contempt. "Them corrupt bastards who 'enforce the law' but are only there to rob us of our money. Pffffft, justice my ass!"

As if it was a signal, everybody in the tavern then began to close in on Tatsumi, trapping him within an impenetrable wall of men. From what Tatsumi remembered, there were at least 25 men in that small enclosed tavern, and that estimate didn't include those who could be drinking on the second floor.

Hada was the closest to Tatsumi, his red face redder than before and his fists shaking as they were shut tight. "If you're going to criticize us about stealing, then how about you stop stealing from us you hypocrites! Eat shit-"

" **You guys are too noisy down there, you know?** "

The drunk voice came from the second floor of the pub. Surprised, everybody turned up, only to see a single lady resting her head against the floor's railing, her brown cloak draping over it to reveal a set of blond messy hair. She was unmistakably hammered, her arms limping over the handrail as a mug of empty beer sat precariously in between her two gigantic breasts. Considering how she still hadn't turned around to face the men on the ground floor, they all presumed that she was still half-asleep.

Although her voice was garbled, Tatsumi recognized that voice from somewhere before. "Wait a second! Isn't that…"

"Oi! Leone!" Hada hollered at the top of his voice, even more pissed now that he was interrupted. "Why don't you join us in beating this little kid up? Little shit needs to be taught a lesson about what the police REALLY means to us."

Leone let out a lazy yawn without changing her posture, evidently uninterested in what Hada had to say. "First robbing antique stores, next beating up little kids. What's next Hada? You and your gang going to peep at some grannies?"

Hada was left with his mouth gaping open, forcing Tatsumi to hold in a giggle. Even the moustached bartender couldn't help but chuckle, making Hada and the rest of the customers glare at him in rage.

"Leone!" Hada shouted, his face now completely consumed by a fiery red rage. "If you've got the balls to say that, why don't ya come say it to me face!?"

Slowly, Leone stood up from her lying position, letting the mug slide off her breasts as she cracked her arms above her head. "Just a second," Leone said in a lazy and drunken tone, before she began to walk backwards and off of the second floor. Instead of catching her, the pub-goers stepped away from her path, allowing the back of her head to come in contact with the floor.

"Just a second…" Leone somehow got up into a wobbly standing position. From where she stood, Tatsumi could see that she was indeed the same lady who had swindled him that day, her two long bangs framing the sides of her head as her golden eyes sat in the middle of a white creamy face. She was red in the face and sweaty all over, her thin mouth curved into a goofy grin. She was still dressed in the same black tube top that revealed the top of her breasts, only this time it was loosened up to barely hang onto her chest. "This was worse than when I first met her!" Tatsumi said to himself, although now that he thought about it, she wasn't even close to drunk even after drinking everything that Tatsumi had bought her. Just how much did she drink this time?

"Well?" Hada asked again, his expression unfazed despite Leone's drunkenness.

"Hmmm? Sorry?" Leone asked in what was almost a murmur, both of her eyes closed shut. "What was the question again?"

Hada placed a palm on his face before letting out an exasperated sigh. "Look, Leone…why don't you just help us beat this kid up?"

"And why should I? Is it my duty to cover your asses every time you get caught stealing?" With only one eye open, Leone then tipsily walked over to confront Hada. They looked each other sternly in the eyes, although Leone was still struggling to stand up straight.

"So what if we stole!? What matters is-"

"Oh? So you admit to stealing? Geez, I thought that you'd be smarter than that Hada."

"Alright, that's it! I'm sick of this shit!" Hada snarled as he puffed hot fumes out of his nostrils. In response, the group surrounding Tatsumi and Leone began to close in on the both of them, the entire group scowling as they prepared themselves for a fight.

"If you ain't gonna join us, then I guess that you'll be joining the kid in today's beatdown."

And with that, Hada threw a meteor-sized fist right at Leone's face.

 **Except that it didn't hit her.** To everyone's surprise, Leone simply caught the fist with her left hand. The intoxicated look on her face hadn't disappeared, yet she was able to completely stop the explosive punch with ease.

Hada was stunned, more so than the rest of his companions who were all left speechless. He first looked at his own hand, cupped within the relatively smaller fingers of his supposed victim, before slowly turning his face upwards to look Leone in the eyes. Her mouth was curving upwards at a devilishly slow pace, her wide grin giving her an aura of terror.

Leone chuckled for just a moment, sending shivers down Hada's spine. Fear began to steadily creep into Hada's body, turning his hands and feet to stone.

 **It was at this moment that Hada knew: he fucked up.**

" **My turn.** "

With the strength of a beast, Leone pummels Hada in the diaphragm, forcing him to release all of the air within his lungs. Before his feet can even land back on the ground, he is sent flying with a spinning kick from Leone's right, the force barreling him through 2 other men before crashing his body into a table. Trembling in fear, the thief named Speedy walks over to check on his boss. He squeaks as soon as he see's Hada's blank eyes, the big man's tongue hanging out of his mouth. Hada, in a matter of moments, has been KO'ed by a drunk woman. 

Shocked at what had just happened, the other members of the pub turn to look at Leone with petrified faces. Tatsumi also turns to face her, but he is surprised by her gleeful expression. She is smiling the smile of a demon.

"Who's next?" Leone taunts the crowd, everybody then looking at each other for assurance.

Tatsumi, although feeling the anxiety from within the room, lets out a small sigh of relief. With Leone having just knocked out the mob's ringleader, Tatsumi was sure that the mood of the tavern would soon return to how it used to be: alive and filled with joy, as if nothing had just happened.

That was, of course, until somebody from within the crowd shouted: "Get her!" After a moment of confusion, the people's scared looks transformed into a uniform face of rage. Before Tatsumi knew it, they were all bellowing a battle cry, charging straight at him and Leone with a thirst for vengeance in their eyes.

At first, Tatsumi just kept on dodging all of the attacks the men were throwing at him. There were so many of them fighting him at once in a very enclosed space, so Tatsumi barely had time to make an attack. Inasmuch as he wanted to brandish his sword, he didn't want to kill anybody in a non-life-or-death situation such as the ongoing bar fight. Imagine what would happen if he came back to the police station as a criminal instead of as a police officer. His friends wouldn't be proud about that, now would they?

It was also then that he realized that when it came to hand-to-hand combat, he was still a bit of a greenie. He was so comfortable with his sword that he never considered going to a fight without it. As a result, despite him having taken up some lessons, he was simply useless in a fight with his bare hands and feet.

Then again, there were some attackers who fought him with cleavers, so it was still a bit unfair on Tatsumi's side.

As he continued to avoid the flurry of swipes and punches being thrown at him, Tatsumi caught a glimpse of Leone and her fight. In complete contrast to Tatsumi's one-sided battle, Leone was sending people flying left and right, deflecting any attacks made at her before counterattacking with what were probably the strongest fists and legs in the room. Tatsumi could still see a light blush on her cheeks due to her drinking escapade, yet she was somehow still able to focus on the situation at hand and best everybody who came charging at her. She made the entire thing look easy.

"Who is that woman!?" Tatsumi exclaimed, before barely dodging a butcher knife aimed at his head. The weapon slightly grazed his temple, creating a thin line of blood as it passed from the front of the head to the back.

Jumping out of harm's way, Tatsumi leaped behind the bar counter, finding the moustached bartender hugging his legs in fright. "I thought that you were a member of police," the shivering bartender whimpered, not making any eye contact with Tatsumi.

Tatsumi ignored him, only to realize that right in front of the bartender lay a bunch of pool cues. Taking one of them, he stood up and whacked the man with the butcher knife in the side of the head with the butt of the cue. Dodging the attempt of another to slice his cue in half, Tatsumi slammed both of his attackers' heads down onto the wooden counter before smashing them both with a pair of bottles. Their heads both laggardly slid off and fell to the floor with a heavy "thud."

"Two down," Tatsumi grimaced. "A whole lot more to go."

Tatsumi soon realized though why hiding behind the bar counter wasn't such a bright idea. Although it did give him a bit of cover which he used to knock out two more, it didn't take long for his attackers to surround him from all three sides, giving him no chance of escape with his back against the wall. Before he knew it, 4 muscular men were pinning him to the ground, with a fifth one repeatedly stomping him into submission.

With every stomp, he felt as if he were going to get knocked out at any moment. Unfortunately for him though, these men were more interested in making him feel pain whilst he was conscious, avoiding the head but brutalizing him in the stomach and in the groin. Stars were beginning to appear at the back of his head as his vision began to blur and fade into the darkness. He was afraid of what was going to happen to him after he had blacked out, but he knew that he had no control over the situation anymore. **He had lost the fight.**

That was when Tatsumi heard the pub door creak open. He couldn't see the figures though due to him being behind the counter this entire time. He then heard shouting, something like "Leone!". Yellow hair flew over him. He was let go by the men. His face was planted to the ground. He heard people coughing. He heard screams. The scent of spices entered his nose. A handkerchief covered his face. He was carried up. She ran. Into the light.

Darkness.


	13. Operation: First Blood (Pt 2)

**Chapter 13**

 **Operation: First Blood (Prologue Pt. II)**

Tatsumi woke up to the sight of birch wood planks placed side-by-side. Their pattern was simple, ending at four straight-edged corners to form a small square ceiling.

Tatsumi hurriedly sat up and tried to get a hold of his surroundings. Last thing he remembered, he was pinned down behind a wooden bar counter, getting pummeled by a bunch of drunk angry men. No wait...that wasn't right. Last thing he knew, he was rescued by someone (presumably Leone) and then (presumably) carried out of the pub and into the sunlight. Tatsumi wasn't completely sure of what had happened though. After all, he was practically knocked out.

From what Tatsumi now saw, he was now seated on one of the two beds downed with white linen in a small cubic room. Aside from a worn-out oak chest in between the two beds and a single lampstand directly above it, the room was empty and without decor. If it weren't for the locked rusty padlock that held the chest tight, Tatsumi could've easily mistaken the tiny bedroom to be that of a new house.

Tatsumi warily moved his limbs as he steadily got off of the bed. He was still wearing the same clothes as before, although his sword sheath and gun holster were currently being balanced on top of the chest. Seeing how his muscles were functioning without problem, he slowly began to stretch out his arms and legs. He was expecting to feel even the slightest bit of pain due to the beating that he had received before he lost all consciousness. To his surprise, he felt refreshed and re-energized, just as if he had woken up from a very light but relaxing nap.

As he examined himself further, he found no cuts or gashes across his skin even though his clothes still retained some of the battle scars, and all of his supposed bruises from the chaotic event had vanished. It was as if the bar fight was nothing more than a scary dream.

Just for good measure though, Tatsumi slapped himself hard on the left cheek. Although he had just gotten out of bed, he still staggered at the force of the hit, the slight pain coursing through the nerves on his skin as a candid "whapack" reverberated within his ears.

Tatsumi was pretty sure that he wasn't dreaming. That begged the question though: **how was he completely fine after what he had just been through?**

Only having to take a few small steps, Tatsumi exited the room to be led into what seemed to be the lobby of a modest shop. Housed by the same shade of wood as the previous room, the opening had walls painted and shined to look like a lighter shade of mahogany (although being from a northern province, Tatsumi could easily tell that the wood was still just birch wood). The length of every single side of the shop was jam-packed with wooden shelves and casings filled with items of all kinds, from swords and armor to books and artifacts. The entrance of the corner room that Tatsumi had just exited from was right next to a simple-looking but broad waxed counter that stood in front of a trio of glass-door cabinets, all of them filled to the brim with potions and whatnot. At the other end of the wall was another room, although Tatsumi couldn't see what was inside of it due to the door being locked.

At the opposite end of the shop from where Tatsumi was standing was what seemed to be the shop's entrance. In the center were two large paned doors with wide windows on either side, each window showcasing an assortment of shelves with goods to the outside world. Based on the yellowish-orange tinge that was beginning to enter through the glass, Tatsumi could see that it was nearing dusk, meaning that he had only been sleeping for a few hours. Either that, or he had been sleeping for a few days and a few hours, and the worst part was that he didn't have any way of telling so.

In the middle of the lobby was a rectangular glass table surrounded by 3 fluffy couches of different colors and a… Tatsumi didn't actually know what the thing was: all that he could observe from his point of view was that it didn't take on any specific shape aside from resembling an oddly squished tomato, yet it seemed to serve the same purpose as the couches next to it. Could it be some kind of new chair?

Walking towards the center of the room, Tatsumi began to carefully inspect the unknown object. Deciding that nothing bad could happen to him, Tatsumi carefully sat down on the couch-like object. As soon as he let it fully support his weight, the object began to form a crevice where he was seated, making his ass sink into its center.

Tatsumi immediately got back up and turned around, only to see the object change its shape in response to weight being placed upon it. Tatsumi held his breath, afraid that he had just tampered with something which he shouldn't have.

"Ah! Tatsumi! So, I see that you've come to!"

Entering through the shop's glass doors was a plump round-faced man a head shorter than Tatsumi. He had a lofty amount of black hair on his head with a few white strands sticking out from under the sides of his brown beret. His stubbled chin reinforced his middle-aged look as a wide grin drew itself across his face.

Tatsumi's eyes widened before his mouth formed into a childlike smile. The man's warm and comforting voice hadn't changed from when he had first met him that day.

"Haru Nakamura," Tatsumi said, talking more to himself than to anybody else. "It's great to see you again."

Haru chuckled heartily before walking towards Tatsumi and giving him a friendly hug. When Tatsumi thought about it, they hadn't really known each other long enough to be considered friends, yet the warm greeting that they shared didn't feel in the slightest bit awkward. Maybe it was because of how unlike Haruki's shy and (to-be-frank) needy aura, Haru's aura emanated a more bubbly kind of warmth, creating the illusory air that they were both part of some kind of long-lasting brotherhood.

Releasing the hug, Haru looked up to Tatsumi's face with a more serious look. First inspecting the forehead, the man then began to search across Tatsumi's figure with a quirky sense of urgency. "Are you sure you're alright?" Haru asked with a concerned tone. "No itching, no discomfort, no pain whatsoever?"

"No actually," Tatsumi said in reply. "On the contrary, I feel even better than before the bar fight… Speaking of which, what exactly happened then? Actually, where am I right now?"

Haru wore a tired look as he let out a heavy sigh. Taking off his cap, he then directed Tatsumi towards the meeting place in the center. "Well… It's all a simple story really."

Tatsumi looked back, his eyes once again reaching the somewhat amorphous couch. Seeing Tatsumi's nervous gaze, Haru patted the teen on the shoulder. "So," he said. "I see that you've already gotten acquainted with the Bean Couch."

"Huh?" Tatsumi quizzically turned his face towards the man. "Bean...Couch?"

"Yup. At least, that's what Haruki calls it anyway. It was originally filled with dried beans you see." Haru chuckled to ease Tatsumi's fright. "Anyways, it's a new kind of couch that we've recently developed. It is supposed to takes the shape of whoever is sitting on it, so don't worry about having broken anything." Haru smiled as he saw Tatsumi let out a sigh of relief. Walking over and sitting on one of the other couches, Haru once again motioned his hat towards the so-called Bean Couch.

Following his cue, Tatsumi walked over and plopped himself down on the couch. The couch had once again changed its shape according to that of his lower body, although Tatsumi wasn't worried anymore after being reassured by Haru. If anything, Tatsumi now found the weird feeling of sitting on something that was semi-free-flowing to be a bit rehabilitating.

"It's popular amongst the upper class you know," Haru explained nonchalantly. "Or at least by those who have the money to spend on such luxuries. Our shop does have a very mixed market. The Bean Couch aside though, you wanted to know what had happened to you, correct?"

Tatsumi promptly nodded, his memories of how he had escaped still hazy. One moment, he was getting beaten up by ogre-like men, the next moment smoke had filled the room and he was being carried outside by whom he had assumed to be Leone.

Speaking of Leone… What exactly had happened to her?

"Haruki actually followed you until you entered the bar before immediately running back to tell me about it. After I had gotten a gist of the situation, both of us hurried over to the bar, only to find it in utter chaos due to the ongoing bar fight. The only thing that I could do then was activate one of our newest inventions and cause enough of a distraction to give you and Leone a chance to escape."

Distraction? By distraction, did he mean the thick cloud of smoke that had filled the pub back then? "That was you!?" Tatsumi asked incredulously, the praise causing Haru to scratch his head in meek abashment.

"Well, yeah. Our shop specializes in all types of items you see, from furniture to artifacts to actual weapons. What we used there was a weapon that our shop had originally designed; we call it the Chili Smoke Grenade, which as the name implies, releases a chili-based smoke once the grenade is detonated. We have the resident doctor to thank for the formula though."

All Tatsumi could do was gape in amazement. He couldn't believe that these two brother merchants were actually also inventors. How lucky he was to have met such incredible people in the Capital!

"Anyways, after we had released the grenades, Leone carried you outside and brought you to our shop. By covering your face though, she may have inadvertently knocked you out." Haru let out a chuckle of embarrassment before continuing. "It was here that me and my brother treated you and your injuries, and after just a few hours, you seem to be doing absolutely fine."

Tatsumi was relieved to hear that he had only been asleep for a few hours. He didn't know how worried Seryu might've been if he didn't come home that night, and he sure didn't want an investigation to be conducted regarding his activities that afternoon.

But still, Tatsumi had so many questions. To start with the most important one…

"The cases..." Tatsumi asked. "Are they alright?"

"After risking life and limb in a bar fight, the second thing that you ask is how our merchandise is doing? Geez, I must say, I'm more than impressed by your selflessness. I just hope that you don't get into anymore similar life-threatening situations, okay?"

Tatsumi remained silent. Considering that he was now part of the police force and that he had planned on fighting Night Raid alongside Seryu and Felix, a bar fight really shouldn't have been anything so life-threatening. Maybe he really wasn't as ready to fight for justice as he thought.

"That aside, the cases and what were in them are completely fine. I actually should be thanking you: if you hadn't rescued the cases from those thieves, I doubt that we would ever see them again."

"If it's okay for me to ask though Haru-sama," Tatsumi inquired politely, "what were in those cases?"

"Well if you must know, the cases contained some highly-valued weapons and battle gear, which makes sense why it would catch people's attention once they found out what was inside. The problem now is who exactly had tipped the thieves off."

Tatsumi began to think about it too, but ended up dismissing it as some mere coincidence. If somebody really did employ them to steal the goods, then how come the thieves still chose to pass by their favorite pub?

"Considering your kind nature, I'm sure that despite her having stolen from you, you're also worrying about Leone, am I right?" Haru smiled warmly as he saw the look of surprise on Tatsumi's face. "Leone also told us all about your relationship before going to sleep. Haruki is actually still checking up on her before returning back to the shop."

Tatsumi smiled back in response to Haru's friendly grin. This man was able to read him like a book (although he already knew that most people could because of his predictable character), and yet it didn't bother him due to how warm and friendly the man always was towards him, despite them being almost complete strangers.

"Putting all of this aside though," Haru said whilst still maintaining his smile, "I want to hear more about your story so far. How's life in the Capital?"

Maybe it was because of how Tatsumi only had a handful of people he could trust, but as of that moment, Haru became his closest confidant. Tatsumi told him everything: from getting rejected from the military to seeing his friends dead, to getting taken in by Seryu until that day wherein he was accepted into the police force. He of course excluded the part about him deciding to help Seryu fight against Night Raid, but that didn't mean that he wasn't incredibly tempted to do so.

For the entire duration of Tatsumi's story, Haru kept silent, listening intently to every single word and nodding his head every once in awhile. Once Tatsumi had finished, Haru rested his head on the neck of the couch, letting out a long heavy sigh.

After a few quiet moments, Haru sat upright to see Tatsumi eye-to-eye. The look in his eyes now showed more concern and sorrow than joyous acceptance.

"So...You've been through a lot huh?" Haru asked rhetorically, not knowing what to make of the situation. Deciding not to try and console Tatsumi's loss over his friends (as then he would have to mention their deaths), Haru decided to ask: "Is the gun still with you?"

Tatsumi nodded, pointing towards the room wherein his sword and gun now lay. Haru nodded solemnly, focusing his gaze back onto Tatsumi.

" **Promise me Tatsumi: no matter where you go, you must always keep your sword and gun around your waist.** The Capital is filled with dangers and beasts more terrifying than you can imagine, so you'll never know when you'll need to use force. Actually, no, not just the Capital: **the world of the Empire is riddled with evil, stemming from the darkest hearts of humankind**. Be wary wherever you go, as nobody is ever truly safe from the darkness."

Tatsumi nodded, having understood what he thought Haru had meant. Besides, if Night Raid did decide to attack them due to their secret plans, their trio would have to be ready 24/7.

Haru looked outside as dusk began to settle and soon transition into night. "I guess that it's time for you to go," Haru said in a wistful tone as he stood up from his seat. Tatsumi quickly followed, hurrying to get his weapons before heading out towards the entrance.

"Well, it was nice seeing you again Tatsumi," Haru said as he offered Tatsumi his right hand to bid him farewell. Tatsumi graciously shook the hand, smiling at Haru as Haru smiled back.

"Be sure to come back again sometime," Haru added. "Me and Haruki would absolutely love to have you over again."

"I will," Tatsumi said confidently as he began to open the glass-paned door. Considering how many friends he had made in the Capital so far, he would make sure to come back again in case he needed somebody to confide in.

Before Tatsumi left however, Haru suddenly placed his hand onto Tatsumi's right shoulder, causing Tatsumi to look around and come face-to-face with a pair of concerned eyes. More than seriousness or urgency, they displayed a heart's worth of sorrow.

"Hey Tatsumi," Haru addressed, his tone solemn but wavering in the slightest. "Before you go, I just want to warn you… Be careful of the Capital."

Tatsumi raised an eyebrow in confusion. Didn't Haru already warn him of just as much?

" **Not everybody is who they seem to be.** " Haru spoke in what had become a whisper, as if his message was only a secret between the two of them. Despite his uneven voice, his eyes remained unchanging in their gaze, his face barely moving aside from the corners of his mouth when he spoke. " **Ideals are sometimes scapegoats for emotion. Those who you consider to be friends and saviors could actually be the most evil of them all. Especially those in the Imperial Police.** "

"What are you-"

But before Tatsumi could say any more, Haru leaned forward so that their eyes became even closer. It was then that Tatsumi clearly saw the sorrow in Haru's eyes, its intensity focused through the brown retinas that conveyed it. This wasn't the friendly Haru that Tatsumi had met a few days before, neither was it the warm Haru whom he had talked with in the shop just a few minutes ago. This Haru was weak and grieving, filled with fear and a mix of dreadful emotions.

"No," Tatsumi thought to himself. "Something's not right. **This was not Haru.** "

In the same second that he had thought this, Haru lightly let go of his shoulder and took a step back to regain composure. Haru was now standing up straight, his hands gently clasped in front of his belly as he wore the same jolly smile on his face. As he promptly said "sorry" for his weird behavior, his eyes showed no trace of the sadness; they were just as warm and friendly as ever.

It was as if nothing had just transpired between them.

"Hey, Haru-sama?" Tatsumi asked, his tone now a little more suspicious.

"Just call me Haru-san if you want; Haru-sama is too formal you know."

"Well, Haru-san, how exactly did you cure me of ALL of my injuries? I mean, I'm pretty sure that I broke a few ribs in that fight, not to mention how even the slightest of scratches has faded away."

But Haru just gave him the smile that he always did, the same friendly aura emanating from his entire being.

"That my friend, is a business secret."

And as Tatsumi left and was walking towards Seryu's, he began to recall some of Haru's last words.

" **Those who you consider to be friends and saviors could actually be the most evil of them all. Especially those in the Imperial Police."**

That was when Tatsumi knew that Haru wasn't all who he seemed to be, that Haru knew more than what he let on.

* * *

 **Wow that was some hiatus right after I said that I would continue. Better late than never though, am I right?**

 **Next chapters will (hopefully) be released very soon. They will start to cover Tatsumi and his escapades in his fight against Night Raid. Hopefully, you will enjoy them all.**

 **Please leave a review regarding how I describe my action sequences. I will make many more of them in the future, and so I will need as much criticism as I can as early as now since I am still not confident in how I write them.**

 **Well, until next time.**


	14. Operation: First Blood (Pt 3)

**Chapter 14**

 **Operation: First Blood (Pt. I)**

Mine sat upright on top of a brick-roofed building, her eyes focused through the lenses of her binoculars. Once she was sure that Tatsumi was headed back to that policewoman's home, she immediately got up and began to shadow him from the rooftops.

Still, getting involved in a bar fight with Leone and ending up in the care of the Nakamura brothers nonetheless? Although his actions seemed to be that of a genuine country bumpkin, she had to admit: **his activities did begin to seem quite suspicious**.

"Nah, there's no way!" Mine thought to herself as she jumped across the silhouettes of the Capital's night. "There's no way somebody that inexperienced and naive could be a spy, right? Plus, if he really was a spy, wouldn't it have been easier for him to create a backstory wherein he wasn't related to the Police Force at all? I mean, it does just place a whole lot more suspicion on him."

Or maybe that was just what he wanted her to think. Either way, her assumptions didn't really matter as of the moment. They would only matter once she reported her findings back to the Boss the following day, in which case her thoughts may have already changed for the worse.

As Tatsumi reached the house and entered its wooden door, Mine sighed as she sat cross-legged on the roof of an adjacent building. Picking up her binoculars, she hastily unscrewed the right eyecup to reveal a partition that held a small earpiece. She placed the earpiece into her right ear before pressing a button on her binoculars' focusing knob three times. In a split second, static came over the channel before transmitting clear audio directly into Mine's ear.

Being an assassin for a few years naturally meant that you had experience in eavesdropping on other people's conversations. When Tatsumi wasn't looking, Mine was able to stick an audio transmitter under his collar before disappearing from view. Considering that she had done it that morning in front of the Police Station, it was a feat that she was especially proud of.

"-mi, where have you- Oh my gosh! What happened to your shirt!?"

"Oh well, it's a long story. I sorta got into a nasty bar fight today."

Mine was sure of those two voices. The second one was obviously Tatsumi, with his masculine yet timid voice which she was sure that a lot of girls would love. The first one was who people referred to Seryu, an Imperial Police Officer and the only one of her kind known to hold an Imperial Arm. Mine knew that she was somebody who was to be watched closely.

"Nasty bar fight? Then what happened to all of your bruises?"

"I don't actually know either. All I know was that I was rescued by a swindler and some shopkeepers and they allowed me to rest in their shop until I recovered."

"That sounds...interesting, but I'm sure that we'll be able to discuss that some other time. For now though, we have to focus on our plans as to how to bring justice to the Empire!"

Justice to the Empire? Mine scowled as she began to look at the house more sternly. That was a red flag right there. Just what exactly were they-

"Huh? Felix? Is something the matter?"

"Why're you-"

 _Bzzzt._ Static resounded within Mine's eardrums, her reflexes telling her to cover her ears. Immediately, she removed the earpiece and placed it back into its casing.

Even more to her surprise, a teenage boy suddenly stepped out of the house and surveyed his surroundings. If it weren't for Mine hiding behind the shadows of the roofing's clay curves, she was sure that she would've been spotted, especially since the boy immediately looked up to where she was seated.

It was the black spiky-haired boy who was referred to as Felix, his brown eyes gazing intently upon Mine's previous post. After a few moments, the boy shook his head as he headed back inside and closed the door.

Mine released her breath as she crawled back to where she once was. It was exactly the same as a few days before: once Felix was about to leave Tatsumi to comfort Seryu on his own, the audio suddenly got cut off before the policeman walked out to scan his surroundings. He examined the area for a few minutes, with what seemed to Mine as her almost getting caught a couple of times, before finally giving up and going on his way.

Felix seemed to know that Tatsumi was being bugged, meaning that he may have already begun to formulate his own suspicions. Mine didn't want to try to bug Seryu, as if what the manual said was true, her Imperial Arm would spot her right away. Mine decided that if she was to bug Tatsumi once more, she would have to make sure that Felix wouldn't notice anything suspicious, else it lead to her cover getting blown.

It was now obvious to Mine that Felix was no ordinary police officer. Aside from the unnatural speed that he showcased to Tatsumi the day that they met, Mine knew that no ordinary police officer would be able to detect a bug right away and then be able to nearly catch the culprit within the next few seconds. And considering that it was a special camouflage transmitter created by the Revolutionary Army specifically for high-ranking officers, to be able to detect it almost instantly meant that he needed to already have some prior knowledge of the technology.

Mine gritted her teeth. Just who was this guy?

With no chance of listening in on their conversation, Mine decided to just lie on the rooftop and wait. "Who knows?" she thought to herself. "Maybe they're all planning something big and are just waiting for the right time to leave the house."

She immediately sighed at the thought however. "Yeah, like that's going to happen. With a boy like Tatsumi? Pfffffft. No way."

It was then that she remembered the Boss' words: "On any sort of mission, always assume that your target has done something worth dying for." Of course, this wasn't always the case, but it was a great way of saying that looks can be deceiving. She shouldn't let her guard down when spying on somebody, no matter how innocent they may seem.

"This boy though...Ugggghhhh! What the hell am I doing?! Akame and Bulat are probably kicking some Empire ass right now while I'm just…Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuck."

In the middle of her wailing though, she suddenly felt a presence within her proximity. Turning around, she was suddenly face-to-face with a dark shadow.

"Gah!" Mine rolled out of the way as she pulled out Pumpkin and aimed it at the shadow's face. The shadow didn't seem threatened however. If anything, it seemed like it-no, she was giggling, her fingers raised to where her mouth was supposed to be.

"How's the mission?" the lady whispered sheepishly, leading Mine to scowl as she could barely hear her. The lady then began to slowly walk towards Mine's lying body before crouching to place her face closer to the light.

Mine's eyes widened as she realized who the shadow was. With her long purple hair and similarly colored eyes, Sheele's bespectacled face gave a warm and timid smile. She was wearing her usual outfit: a sleeveless cheongsam coupled with a pair of arm sleeves, all of which were colored lilac like the lilies.

If Mine had squinted past the light of the streetlamps and behind Sheele's white boots, she would see the light glinting off of Sheele's shiny and impenetrable weapon, the unbreakable pair of human-sized scissors partly gleaming in the moonlight. With its blades being forged from the strongest of scales and hides, it is said that the Cutter of Creation: Extase could cut down any object in human existence without fail.

Mine chuckled as Sheele helped her back to her feet. "Bo-ring," Mine said as she rolled her eyes, much to the amusement of Sheele who giggled a bit more. "This kid that I'm following: some country bumpkin who just happened to stumble near our base. At first me and Boss thought that he might be a spy. Now though, I'm not so sure."

"But you never know, right?" Mine asked Sheele jokingly. "I mean, I do still have a night left before I go back. Who knows? Maybe in that amount of time, Tatsumi does turn out to be a psychotic asshole after all."

Mine then saw Sheele look upwards in a confused look before placing a finger to her chin. Mine sighed, remembering how airheaded Sheele actually was. "Of course she wouldn't be able to figure all of that out on her own," Mine thought to herself as she shook her head and smiled at how slow her best friend's mind worked.

"Sorry 'bout confusing you Sheele," Mine apologized. "Tatsumi's the name of the guy who-"

Sheele's eyes lit up in an instant as she pounded her fist into the palm of her hand. "I just remembered something," Sheele said to herself, stopping Mine mid sentence and giving her her turn to pass on a confused look.

Sheele giggled as she now focused her eyes onto Mine's face. "Sorry for having to break it to you," Sheele said apologetically whilst giving a low bow. "But Boss is asking us to spy on someone else now."

"Huh?" Mine gave Sheele an even more confused look, although it didn't seem to faze Sheele who was staring off into space. "But what about my mission?"

"Hmmm…" Sheele thought for a few more moments before pounding her fist once more. "She said something about you reporting your findings once you returned after the mission. I think. She said something like 'your current mission wasn't as important.' Or something."

Mine couldn't help but cringe at Sheele's report, especially at the "or something" portion. "Hey Sheele?" Mine asked. "Are you sure about what you're saying?"

It took a few seconds for Sheele to respond. "Yes...Somewhat."

Mine now began to bite her lip. "Hey, Sheele? I know that you're my partner and all, but was there anybody else at base that Boss could've sent to deliver the message?"

"Hmm...I don't think so. To be honest though, I don't remember." Sheele then sheepishly knocked on her head as she giggled. All that Mine could do was give an exasperated sigh.

"Are you okay with leaving your target early though?" Sheele asked inquisitively. "I mean, Boss did say that this next mission is probably more important, but if your current assignment is really urgent, then…"

Mine turned around to look at the two-storeyed house. The trio just seemed to be cooped up inside, probably chatting and telling silly stories like other normal teenagers. No wait, scratch that: Mine knew that they weren't normal. One of them had to bury two of his dead friends, one of them almost caught her red handed, and one of them had an Imperial Arm as a pet.

Mine ended up sighing and turning back towards Sheele. "Let's just do what Boss says," Mine said to Sheele. "This mission was boring anyways."

Mine had to admit, they did seem more suspicious than the regular bunch of teenagers, but considering how much of their activity she could deem as suspicious, there was little to no chance of them being Imperial spies on Night Raid. Just from watching Tatsumi alone, Mine already knew that although he was faster and stronger than a lot of boys his age, his skill was nowhere close to that of an experienced fighter. As for Seryu and Felix, they may have been dangerous enough for Mine to take note of, but it did genuinely seem like they had just met Tatsumi a few days before, so they probably wouldn't have been cooperating with him if he was indeed spying on Night Raid. For Mine, this meant that if Tatsumi really was an Imperial spy (which he probably wasn't), all it would take was a single well-placed shot to end the problem.

Besides, who said that she couldn't request Boss to allow her to continue spying on him after the mission just to make sure of his innocence? To be honest though, if ever she did choose to do that, she would probably only last a couple more days. Watching a pitiful boy like Tatsumi day in and day out was already a form of torture for Mine, knowing full well that she could be joining in on the action.

Before long, Mine had taken one last glance at the house on its lamp-lit street before dashing across the rooftops right behind Sheele. Their silhouettes were barely visible, save for when their forms were shined upon by the moon.

"So...where to?" Mine asked casually, a bit relieved to have been reunited with her partner-in-crime.

Sheele looked behind and smiled in the darkness. "Boss wants us to check out an abandoned dungeon in the Capital's outskirts. There have been reports of strange activity and...something about experimentation..."

Mine couldn't help but smile as her friend struggled to remember the details. "It's okay Sheele. We'll just see the place once we get there."

* * *

Tatsumi hesitated a bit before opening the front door. He was worried about Seryu and Felix's reactions to his extremely late arrival, not to mention how they would react once they saw his banged-up clothing.

Tatsumi walked in on his two friends seated on the couch in the living room at the entrance of the house. Seryu was seated on one end, trying to calm down an aggravated Koro who was angrily kyewing in Felix's direction. Felix sighed as he released his arm around Seryu's torso and slowly began to scoot over to the other end of the couch. Seryu then began to play with Koro whilst Felix was left sulking on his own.

Tatsumi watched this scene unfold before a depressed Felix noticed him a few moments later. "Yo, Tatsumi, how's it going?" Felix waved as he asked in manner that Tatsumi didn't quite understand just yet. Tatsumi timidly greeted back, alerting Seryu and Koro to his presence at the front door.

"Tatsumi," Seryu greeted cheerily as she stopped playing peekaboo with Koro. "Where have you-" Seryu's expression changed from joy to shock as she pointed to Tatsumi's shirt. "Oh my gosh! What happened to your shirt?!"

Tatsumi nervously chuckled as he placed his hand behind his head. "Oh well, it's a long story," he said timidly. "I sorta got into a nasty bar fight today."

"Nasty bar fight?" Seryu seemed confused. "Then what happened to all of your bruises?"

"I don't actually know either." Tatsumi managed a weak smile in response to all of the confused expressions in the room. "All I know was that I was rescued by a swindler and some shopkeepers and they allowed me to rest in their shop until I recovered."

Felix and Seryu both exchanged puzzled looks before facing Tatsumi. "That sounds...interesting," Seryu said skeptically. "But I'm sure that we'll be able to discuss that some other time. For now though, we have to focus on our plans as to how to bring justice to the Empire!"

Tatsumi smiled at Seryu's enthusiasm which instantaneously lifted the mood. There was a good reason as to why he was supposed to return early that night. They had all decided that they would carry out their first mission, and they had all agreed to meet there early as to make their final preparations. Tatsumi was relieved though, because instead of getting mad because of how late he had arrived, Seryu had instead chosen to become excited due to how they could finally start their operation.

Out of the corner of his eye, however, Tatsumi noticed Felix staring at him with a rather curious expression. After a couple of seconds, Felix's face compressed to form a scowl as his curious stare turned into an intense glare.

Felix suddenly stood up from his seat and began walking briskly towards Tatsumi. Tatsumi couldn't help but retreat a little as Felix got closer and closer. Seryu soon took notice and stopped her smiling as she turned her attention towards Felix and his confrontational look.

"Huh? Felix? Is something the matter?" Seryu asked as Felix was now standing right in front of Tatsumi, his look deadly and locked onto the face right in front of him. Tatsumi began to sweat and gulp, feeling the extreme intensity of Felix's eyes reverberate throughout his entire body. The panic and fear that he was feeling was unlike anything that he had ever experienced before; it felt too refined and too dangerous to even be considered within the realm of anger.

Without warning, Felix suddenly placed both of his hands on Tatsumi's shoulders, causing Tatsumi to involuntarily shudder. Slowly, Felix brought his left arm up to Tatsumi's forest of hair before seemingly plucking something out of it.

"Why're you-" Before Tatsumi could finish, however, Felix clenched his fist and ran out of the door. Outside of the house, he then began to scan the clay and stone rooftops, his face all tensed up as a powerful aura could be felt emanating from his being. "What happened to him?" Tatsumi thought to himself, his feet barely being able to move from where he stood. The atmosphere in the house had suddenly tensed up from that of enthusiasm and cheer.

After what seemed like days, Felix sighed as he walked back in, closing the wooden door behind him. The tension in his face and body had disappeared as his body relaxed to the point that he just looked tired. The powerful aura that had once enveloped him had also effectively dissipated from his being, allowing for a more casual atmosphere to once again rule over the space wherein they were staying.

Felix slumped back down on one end of the sofa before letting out another sigh. "There was a bug in your hair," Felix said before laying his head on the armrest beside him.

Tatsumi let out a nervous chuckle. His feet now allowed him to walk stiffly towards the dining table to get a vacant chair, a bit shellshocked with what had just happened. "What happened to the Felix that I met yesterday?" Tatsumi asked himself. "First Haru, now Felix: does everybody here in the Capital have some kind of split personality disorder?

* * *

With the three of them now gathered in the living room's center, Seryu cleared her throat before beginning the long awaited mission briefing. "A year or so ago, me and Felix, seeing the lack of justice that the evildoers of Night Raid had, decided to carry out activities unknown to the police in the hopes of stopping Night Raid dead in their tracks. We called ourselves the Night Watch."

"Night Watch?" Tatsumi asked curiously, unaware that they even had a name for their team.

"You can ask Felix about the name later," Seryu said as she turned towards Felix, his head still lazily resting on the sofa's side with a seemingly uninterested look on his face. Seryu exasperatedly sighed before continuing. "Anyway, as I was saying, we executed our operations by staking out locations where we suspected Night Raid to show up. We would sometimes end up busting a Revolutionary Army meeting in the process, and on a few lucky occasions, we were able to engage Night Raid in combat."

Although Tatsumi had already been told about this in their prior meeting, he still couldn't believe that they could meet Night Raid simply by spying on certain areas night after night. The info that Felix would "borrow" from the police was apparently still limited due to Night Raid being almost untraceable, so this truly was their only way of possibly catching them.

With as much deduction that was placed into narrowing down Night Raid's whereabouts though, it was plain for Tatsumi to see that ever since before, Night Watch was essentially a gamble. They would only get to meet Night Raid if they were all lucky enough.

 **Either that, or they had to be unlucky enough to meet the mass murdering demons of the Revolution.**

Tatsumi was still hopeful, however, as Seryu did mention something about her and Felix having engaged Night Raid in a couple of chance encounters. In the prior meeting, Felix even energetically boasted about placing a poisoned slice in one of the assassins' abdomens without them noticing, leading Felix to presume that the boy had died in action.

The Felix right now, however, was much more different from the Felix back then. While the Felix Tatsumi was familiar with was flamboyant and lively and loved to crack crude jokes left and right, the Felix seated in front of him was tired and depressed, his rapid and sometimes almost incomprehensible speech now replaced by unnerving silence. It scared Tatsumi that the hyper Felix that he once knew was now looking at him with what was either a pair of sad or indifferent eyes. Then again, he barely knew Felix, but to be frank he barely knew anybody in the Capital.

"But we aren't going to engage Night Raid in combat just yet, right?" Tatsumi was surprised to see Felix speak, albeit with him barely opening his mouth. Seryu nodded gleefully in Felix's direction, seemingly unfazed by the difference in his attitude.

"Uh-huh! Since we haven't been doing this for some time, tonight's mission will entail us storming a suspected Revolutionary Army outpost and shutting it down for good. It is said to be a minor supply and weapons storage with just a few guards, so it should be good practice for us."

"Not only that…" Felix then raised his head and sat upright before focusing his gaze onto Tatsumi. "This will also act as a sort of test for you, Tatsumi Yukimura."

"Huh? A test?" Tatsumi asked whilst wearing a confused expression. He was never told anything about a test!

"Yes, Tatsumi: a test." Felix then bent forward, placing more tension into his stare as it started to drill into Tatsumi's skull. "You being our friend doesn't instantly make you just as skilled as either one of us. If I may be so frank, I'd say that only very few people can match the skill that me and Seryu have worked hard for for a major portion of our lives. You've also got to understand that killing requires much more than skill: **it requires the ability and will to end a life, and considering what we plan to accomplish as a team, we'll have to be able to do it on a moment's notice. Without hesitation."**

"Tatsumi," Felix's said in a firm voice, his eyes still locked onto Tatsumi's. "You have to understand that we won't just be fighting Night Raid by doing this: by vowing to kill Night Raid, we'll essentially be taking on the entire Revolutionary Army. You may have to kill people who may not be as heartless as the infamously skilled assassins. **They may even be people who you've met and may have even become friends with you if you didn't have to kill them on the spot."**

Beads of sweat were beginning to drip down Tatsumi's temples as his thoughts began to wage war within his mind. It had only just dawned upon him that fighting Night Raid would entail him to kill revolutionaries who he might not have known to be evil: people with their own loved ones, people with their own friends, people with their own aspirations, people who when they weren't fighting were continuing on with their own possibly hope-filled lives.

And he would have to do it whenever the operation required it, and he would have to do it without fail.

Tatsumi began to imagine the different people whom he had come to know as good-hearted throughout his entire lifetime as targets who he would have to kill one day. The faces of the village folk back at the province swirled within his consciousness, making Tatsumi question whether it was possible for them to be part of the revolution. Would he be able to raise his sword against the people who had cared for him for his entire life?

These thoughts were then coupled by the images of the kind people whom he had met on his journey towards the Capital up until now. There may not have been many, but the thought of having to kill people like the Nakamura brothers and Captain Gudmund threw Tatsumi into a deeper state of worry. Even Leone briefly popped up in his head, who he now knew cared for others (even if it was in the slightest) due to her having saved him back at the pub. Tatsumi hurriedly dismissed the notion, however, for he thought at the very least that the Revolutionary Army had no need for useless drunkards like her.

Although he was pretty sure a few nights before, the thought of mercilessly killing multiple people, people who he may even know and love in the name of justice **frightened him**. " _You should do it_ ," one voice said. " _Night Raid's a bunch of sadistic murderers who would kill anybody and everybody if asked to. Just ask Seryu and how they killed Ogre without any reason, despite him being a kind man. Hell, they might have even killed Ieyasu and Sayo if given the chance._ "

" _ **But doing this won't bring them back**_ ," another voice cried. " _Besides, if Tatsumi does decide to go against the Revolutionary army, he may have to kill people who were misguided into seeing Night Raid as heroes, but at heart were just as kind as Ogre, whether he got to know them or not. Don't you get it?_ _ **He may have to kill the very same people who he wants to keep alive after Night Raid is defeated.**_ "

Tatsumi was shivering with worry and with fear as the moisture on his face rapidly increased by the minute. This was all evident to both Seryu and Felix, with both of them being seated right in front of their friend.

Seryu had a concerned look on her face. She leaned forward before warily placing a hand on Tatsumi's shoulder. "Hey Tatsumi," Seryu said with a soft and kind voice. "You know, you don't have to do this if you don't want to." Seryu grudgingly bit her lip before continuing. "It was wrong for me to use your friends' deaths to get you to join us, so I can't really blame you if you never had the heart to do this in the first place."

"I-It's not that," Tatsumi said shakily. His fists were clenched on his lap as he tried to avert his gaze from Seryu's concerned look. "I just...I just don't feel comfortable with killing people who aren't Night Raid. These people who we need to kill... they could be upright people who believe in justice just in much as we do who were only misguided by the wrong people. I can't just be asked to kill revolutionaries indiscriminately. How will I know who's good and who's not?"

"Aren't we doing this to prevent the loss of innocent and good-natured lives? Won't killing people who could be good defeat that purpose? Wouldn't that just make us like Night Raid, who kill the good-hearted without reason or remorse? Wouldn't that just make us like the ones who killed Captain Ogre?"

Seryu winced at the sound of Ogre's name, leaving her speechless and in shock. Her gaze frozen onto Tatsumi's drooped head, she tried to fight back against the tears that she knew would soon be swelling up in her eyes.

" **Tatsumi!"** It was Felix's loud voice that brought Seryu out of her trance, turning to see her boyfriend with a stern look on his face. Tatsumi also seemed to have woken up, his face now raised to meet Felix eye-to-eye.

" **How can you be so insensitive!?"** Felix's harsh tone asked, his face exuding anger. **"Seryu, the girl who is also taking care of you may I add, is trying to convince you to join us kindly, and you reward her with what!? Grief!? You're a spineless bastard if I've ever seen one!** "

Tatsumi was stunned by Felix's outbreak, although he couldn't help but feel a twinge of guilt for what he had just done to his friend Seryu. Felix was right: he was being insensitive. No matter how you looked at it, Tatsumi had absolutely no right to say that.

"Felix, th-that's enough." Seryu tried to get her words across to the person beside her, but it ended coming out as mumbled nonsense. As much as she (and Tatsumi) thought that Felix would do something extreme though, Felix just continued to glare straight into Tatsumi's eyes. Without making any more actions, he was able to instill an indescribable fear within his subject.

After a few long seconds, Felix dropped his gaze as he ended up sighing and slouching back on the couch. Both Tatsumi and Seryu just watched him warily, expecting him to lash out at any moment.

"I have no time to educate naive fools like you." Felix then leaned forward, causing him to tilt his head towards Tatsumi's level as he gave him a serious look. He clasped his hands together, lost as to what he was going to say next.

"Tatsumi…" Felix paused for a moment before deciding what to say next. "Have you ever heard of the Jackaleo Dilemma?"

"Huh?" Expecting harsh reproach, Tatsumi was surprised by Felix's suddenly calm demeanor. More than that though, Tatsumi was confused by the sudden question, one which he didn't know how it related to their conversation.

Upon seeing his blank look, Felix pursed his lips. "You haven't heard of it, have you?" His question was answered with Tatsumi nodding slowly, leading Felix to take a deep breath before beginning his explanation.

"The Jackaleo Dilemma is a hypothetical situation meant to test somebody's moral code." Upon seeing Tatsumi's confused look, Felix rolled his eyes at Tatsumi's lack of comprehension. "It is a 'what-if' problem meant to test somebody's sense of justice." A near silent "ooh" signaled Felix that he could continue. "It goes a bit like this: suppose that you are being dragged on the ground by a poisoned Jackaleo headed towards a village of 30 people or so. Considering your current situation and lack of stamina, your only option is to divert the Danger Beast towards another path. That other path, however, leads to the house of a family of 5, a family who you've known for your entire life. If the Danger Beast were to kill everybody who stood in its way, and if you knew that the poison would kill the Danger Beast immediately after killing everybody on a certain path, who would you make the Danger Beast kill: the 30 villagers or the 5 friends?"

Tatsumi began to ponder over the question in his mind. Logically, he knew that it would be best to choose the choice that killed the least amount of people, but he also knew that by doing so, he would be willingly killing people whom he had known for his entire life.

"Um… Is there a choice where I can prevent all deaths from occurring?" Tatsumi tried to force a smile as he asked such a childish question. All it did was increase Felix's bewilderment at his naivety.

"Are you seriously this...this…" Felix placed a hand over his eyes as he tried to recollect himself from his own disbelief. "No, Tatsumi: there is no choice where nobody dies. In life, tragedies and violence always take something, usually that something being lives, hence the events being called 'tragic' in the first place."

"Oh. Well, if that's the case..." Tatsumi said with an embarrassed look on his face. "Then logically, the right choice would be to divert the Danger Beast towards the family, saving lives in the process. Am I right?"

"Exactly!" Felix said this with a voice filled with relief, although his face showed annoyance more than anything. "Now, replace the family with revolutionaries and Night Raid, the villagers with the people of the Empire, and the Jackaleo with the chaos bred by the revolution."

"Do you get it now Tatsumi?!" Felix asked irritably. "All that the revolution has brought the world is needless violence: the unnecessary disruption of everyday life. The Danger Beast in the problem is their very own creation, which when not stopped will destroy many innocent lives. By killing them, we are simply 'diverting' the violence they have given us back to their owners. This makes the decision to kill them not only logical, but also justified."

"Think of what would happen if we just let the revolution continue as is, if we just let the 'beast' do what it was planning on doing from the start. Aside from the many lives that would be lost in the fight to overthrow the government, many more would be be sure to follow in the ensuing anarchy. By the time that the revolutionaries do finally take over the Empire, most of their citizens would already be dead, along with their leaders of society and the social structures that helped the Empire to function in the first place. Essentially, the Empire that they wanted to take over would end up in ruins, everybody's dreams burning up in flames."

"And with the Empire in such a vulnerable state, which country wouldn't want to take advantage and try to take over the largest civilization in the world? A sudden shift in power of the entire regime would still take some getting used to, leaving the Empire open to attack long enough for many other countries to try and invade. Besides, is the Revolutionary Army naive enough to think that after the revolution succeeds, their allies will not try and take advantage of the situation?!"

" **Is that what you want Tatsumi?! Is your lack of courage telling you to allow such calamity?!"** Felix was now pointing and shouting at Tatsumi with an aura forged out of fire and brimstone. His tone and mere presence was provocative, challenging Tatsumi to answer his question with an intensity that he couldn't muster. He was sweating from his temples, as if Felix's mood was somehow able to change the temperature within the room.

" _ **In bloody rebellion, nobody wins.**_ You best be sensible enough to remember that!"

After a minute of silent stares between the two, Seryu walked in between them and put her hands on both Tatsumi and Felix, alleviating the tension and making them both turn and look at her smiling face. "Felix," she said in a gentle tone, looking directly at her boyfriend. As if he knew what she meant, Felix sighed and released Tatsumi from his gaze before leaning back against the couch.

With the source of discomfort gone, Tatsumi turned his head up to thank the cheery Seryu, but was instead greeted a serious expression written all over her face. She then crouched down, making sure that she was on the same eye level as Tatsumi, their faces were only a few inches apart.

" **Tatsumi, inasmuch as you want to believe that there are kind hearted people within the revolution, the truth is that** **there are none** **.** " Seryu's voice was much softer than Felix's, but the words that came out of her mouth stung Tatsumi just as much, if not even more. "People who join the revolution are well aware of what they are doing; they all knew of the violence that they would be asked to help nurture, for **that has always been the revolution's goal: destruction of everything and everyone necessary in order to overthrow the government.** "

"You may say that many people who join the revolution believe that there won't be any more bloodshed needed after their goals are completed. You may say that many people who join the revolution believe that the Revolutionary Army can immediately assert control once the old regime is taken down, therefore destroying the possibility of anarchy and invasion. But it isn't that belief that makes the revolutionaries evil, whether it really is false or not."

At this point, Seryu placed both of her hands on Tatsumi's shoulders, her face inching closer towards his. Her gaze was intense and made Tatsumi focus on nothing in the room but her.

"It is the fact that they are open to the revolution killing many in order to get the selfish power that they want: control over the entire kingdom. It is the fact that they joined the revolution in the first place, which supports Night Raid, thereby making them supporters of the evildoers themselves. **By supporting Night Raid's activities, even if they didn't directly kill Night Raid's targets, isn't it safe to say they too are guilty of unjust murder?** "

"Once somebody is open to the idea of using murder in order to simply gain power, their hearts become just as dark as Night Raid's. They may look kind and compassionate, but if that is what they really believe, then on the inside, they truly are evil and unjust. In essence, even if they haven't necessarily killed anybody directly, those who join the revolution have at least indirectly participated in the act itself, and it wouldn't be a stretch to say that they are open to doing it themselves in the future. Such volatile elements threaten the innocent around them."

"But what are we going to be doing then?" Tatsumi retorted. "Aren't we also committing murder for our own ideals? Why is our murder so different from theirs?"

It was Felix who once again spoke up from where he was seated, this time in a much flatter tone. "Even if what we are doing is still considered murder, unlike the revolutionaries, our purpose is not self-centered, nor is it out of malice. **We aren't killing to cause destruction: we are killing in order to prevent further destruction.** "

" **Remember the Jackaleo Dilemma? Remember how the beast was the creation of the villagers? What we are doing is simply diverting the revolutionaries' evil intentions back to their masters. Doing nothing or not actively choosing their demise is basically passively choosing the death of innocents."**

"Although I ain't as big of a fan of the concept as Seryu," Felix commented, **"isn't this what one would call 'for the greater good?' Isn't this what one would call 'justice'?"**

Tatsumi was then reminded of his time at Aria's mansion. If he hadn't snuck out that night, he wouldn't have known of the atrocities that were happening within that twisted warehouse. Although the family was mostly to blame, he realized that the guards were also guilty of the crimes, hiding any evidence of the torture and killings behind their innocent-looking faces. Tatsumi thought that although they may not have enjoyed the family's activities and while there is a possibility that they were blackmailed, the fact still stands that by not telling the guests about anything, they were indirectly supporting their deaths. In fact, if the guards had warned Sayo and Ieyasu, then maybe the two could have avoided the slaughter altogether.

Tatsumi's blood boiled the more that he thought about it. Those guards, by doing nothing, had killed his best friends. If he wasn't lucky enough, their silence would've killed him too. **It was their inability to act that made them murderers.**

"They may seem like small fry," Seryu said, the tension in the air loosening and her smile returning to her face, "but if we want to completely neutralize the threat, we can't even allow a single stain of evil to exist within the Empire. We have to be just after all, whether they are famous or not, **for by doing nothing, we're killing the wrong people too.** "

"Besides, killing many of the less prominent members of the revolution will definitely have an impact on the support that Night Raid will receive, thereby also making it easier for us to end their massacre, isn't that right?"

It was here that Seryu stood up and reached out her hand towards the seated Tatsumi. "Tatsumi Yukimura," she said with the warmth of an angel, "do you accept the invitation to prevent the death of the innocent? Do you accept the invitation to put your life on the line for the greater good? **Do you accept the call of justice?** "

Tatsumi's determination flooded out of his heart and spread throughout his entire being. He was now convinced on what he had to do: he wasn't going to become passive like the mansion guards and allow death to reach the innocent. He would have to kill the killers before they killed anyone else, **even if that included everybody who had helped them thus far.**

Tatsumi reached out and grasped Seryu's outreached palm. "I accept," he said firmly, standing up to make her see the resolve that was in his eyes.

* * *

Time seemed to slow down as the two teenagers just looked each other in the eyes. Their expressions were warm and soft, their faces filled with childlike joy. In what seemed like an hour gone by, a sense of naive bliss breathed life into the room where the two stood, their dumb smiles expressing renewed hope for the future.

"Pssst. Pathetic."

The paradisiacal mood was broken by sounds of contempt coming from the edge of the sofa. As the two looked over towards the third member of their party, they could see a look of annoyance on his face, albeit having been turned away out of disbelief.

"I expected a bit more Seryu," Felix said in a disappointed tone. "I knew that this new kid was making you soft."

"It's not that…" Seryu tried to continue reasoning, but no words seemed to come out of her mouth.

Seeing Seryu's discouraged look provoked Tatsumi to retort. "What's wrong with you Felix?" Tatsumi asked in an irate tone. "I just confirmed right in front of your eyes my resolve to take down Night Raid with the two of you, so shouldn't you be happy?"

"Happy? Don't make me laugh." Felix stood up as he gave Tatsumi a cold sarcastic smile, sending the blood rushing to Tatsumi's face. " **The fact that you hesitated in joining this team in the first place already means that you lack the strength to do what's right when needed to**. Honestly, if it was entirely up to me, I would've kicked you out as soon as you showed us that you weren't sure."

"But it isn't entirely up to you, now is it?" Seryu changed to a look of ferocity as she approached and challenged Felix's stature. Although she was a few inches shorter than him, her unwavering glare made them look equal in size.

"Tatsumi just resolved to join this operation knowing full well of its accompanying responsibilities and repercussions. I believe that anybody who was the willpower and determination to fight for justice should be given the chance to, and that includes Tatsumi over here. Isn't his word enough for you?"

"No, it isn't Seryu," Felix responded harshly. "In this world, actions speak louder than words. Tatsumi can go talk all he wants about his beliefs and whatnot but the true test always lies in the battlefield."

"Remember his signs of hesitation that I just pointed out? That wasn't me being an asshole: that was just me being safe. If for whatever reason Tatsumi over here hesitates in killing even a single one of our enemies, that opportunity could be enough to bring our night to a swift end. **Instead of becoming a part of the team, a member who wavers in his resolve would just become a heavy burden.** "

Tatsumi shook in place as his knuckles turned white from how hard he clenched his fists. "I'm not a burden," Tatsumi said through the rage building up in his spirit. "I can kill when needed to."

"But can you really?" Felix was now snickering at the agitated Tatsumi, finding his temperament amusing yet appalling. "Have you ever been on a mission like this before? Have you ever killed anybody based on your own beliefs and not just based on your own barbaric impulses? Have you ever killed a stranger in cold blood without any reason except for the fact that it's 'for the mission'? Because if you haven't, then I suggest that you once again think over what you're getting yourself into."

"This isn't some sort of fairy tale where you become the hero and everything turns out alright. We are neither part of a fantasy nor are we heroes; **as soon as we step out there, we become murderers**. Out in the field, the only assurance of survival that we'll have is executing the mission perfectly and as quickly as possible, without doubt and without emotion, without our humanity and without our souls. Now do you understand?"

After a few moments, Tatsumi responded to Felix by showcasing his own menacing glare, his head raising but his body not moving from its spot. It seemed as if something inside of him snapped.

" **Felix, do you think that I accepted Seryu's offer without understanding what the fuck I was getting myself into!? How low do you fucking think of me!?"**

Tatsumi was now shouting at the top of his lungs, surprising both Seryu and Felix. Unlike Seryu though, Felix hid his bewilderment behind a mask of indifference.

" **I came to the Capital with my two best friends in the hopes of making the lives of our village folk better. The three of us wanted to serve the Empire: we were willing to risk our lives for it by fighting on the front lines. A few nights ago, the two of them were killed by the same piece of trash, her sadistic methods showing me everything that was evil in this Empire. She showed me a world filled with nothing but death and suffering, and out of anger, I killed her entire family. Do you not think, that with everything that I've been through, I'm not ready to sacrifice my life to destroy the same death that she showed me!?"**

" **I came to the Capital with high hopes but the knowledge that I could die in the line of service. As of now, I have nothing. NOTHING! I HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE FELIX! IF I WAS WILLING TO GIVE UP MY LIFE BACK THEN, WHAT MORE AM I WILLING TO GIVE IT UP NOW?!"**

" **Night Raid's purpose is death and destruction; that's what the both of you have been teaching me ever since we met. Killing them will avenge Sayo and Ieyasu, who died brutally by the same evil, and don't you think that for one second, I lack the resolve to avenge my friends, who were always with me through the toughest of times. If at any point my mind hesitates to allow me to deal the finishing blow, my anger against this country's evil will be more than enough to get the job done."**

"I may have never killed somebody based on orders alone, but that also means that both of you know NOTHING about what I'm capable of. So if you really are so intent on proving that I'm nothing more than a piece of shit, you better be ready to get your expectations crushed as I'm going to fucking destroy them."

The room was completely silent for the next couple of minutes. Tatsumi still kept his glare, while Seryu ludicrosity written all over her face. Felix too was stunned by Tatsumi's outburst, his mouth slightly agape with him not knowing what to do. After a while, he smiled at Tatsumi, before saying in a flat tone: "we'll see on the field."

With that, he turned towards Seryu, who after a few more seconds snapped out of her trance and pointed towards the kitchen. "It's in the usual place," she said quickly. First looking back at both teens, he then hastily turned and walked towards whatever Seryu was referring to in the kitchen. Felix had just left the room, leaving Tatsumi and Seryu to continue on in their awkward positions.

"Hey Seryu," Tatsumi asked, desperately wanting to break the silence. "What exactly is Felix getting?"

Seryu placed a finger to her chin, thinking for a few moments before lightly pounding her fist on her palm. "Oh yeah, that's right!" Seryu said this with much enthusiasm, her overflowing energy now allowing her to move out of her space and into Tatsumi's.

"I forgot to show you our uniforms!"

* * *

 **This story should just be called "The Fanfic of a Million Unfulfilled Commitments."**

 **That aside though, I'm so happy that I'll finally get to upload this next chapter. It was originally meant to be 30% longer, but I decided that it was already long enough as it was. I'll probably add the info originally meant to be in this chapter through events in the next few chapters.**

 **Believe it or not, I actually spend more time debating with myself over what I should put/remove/replace/improve in this fanfic (both past, present, and future chapters) and proofreading than I actually do writing. Now considering the gap between when the last chapter was published and now, that's a lot of time debating with myself.**

 **A big part of me has been wanting to revamp the previous chapters (both plot points and how they were written), but I always end up planning for the future chapters that I'm far from even reaching just because it's more fun to plan ideas ahead than it is to proofread or to write down every single detail. That's actually also why it takes me so long to publish a single chapter now that I think about it; I'm just a procrastinating SOB in the end.**

 **Now that I think about it though, maybe I should start doing what a lot of the other writers on the site are doing: focusing more on plot as they go along, not paying so much attention to the littlest of details or to the grammar. I mean, I enjoy a lot of fanfictions on this site even if the conventions aren't impeccable, so why should I use up 2 hours of my precious time to proofread a single fucking chapter?**

 **Anyways, just some things that I want to clear up:**

 **1) I'm thinking of changing Lubbock's/Seryu's backstory in one of the previous chapters (or at the very least, how it's told). Just make sure to read the changes IF EVER I DO update that chapter.**

 **2) I'm probably not going to be writing chapters that reach up until 8k words anytime soon. Probably. I ain't good with commitments.**

 **3) In previous chapters, I carelessly likened Seryu and Felix's personalities to that of one with bipolar disorder. After a bit of research, I now realize that bipolar disorder is a serious mental illness that makes people's lives a lot harder than I made it seem like in the story. I apologize to anybody who was offended by my light use of the term and promise to correct the previous chapters when I do get the chance. That being said though, there are actual bipolar characters in the story, although I will be sure to describe them as accurately as possible this time around.**

 **4) As you can already tell, I am trying to make Seryu's character somebody whose side you can actually be on. I honestly think that the authors of both the show and the manga could've made her seem a bit more human-like.**

 **5) If you couldn't already tell, I am also trying to make the decision of suppressing the revolution seem like a feasible idea (because I feel like the authors could've also done a much better job with that). That being said though, don't completely trust anything that the any of the characters say, including Tatsumi. I want this fanfic to emphasize that their views are influenced by a lot of personal factors and thus are always really subjective (but then again, is there such thing as an objective point-of-view?) Try to decide for yourselves which set of beliefs is the most rational one in this story, and don't just pick the side of revolution just because the show and the manga did.**

 **And with that, I bid farewell. Adieu 'til the next chapter.**

 **-WritingAmateur0604**


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